Consumer credit spiked in October, reaching €640m

  • ECO News
  • 17 December 2018

Banks and other financial institutions distributed close to €640m in consumer credit in October, the first high since May's record values.

The month of October was marked by an acceleration in consumer credit. Banks and other financial institutions accepted €640m in consumer credit requests in the month of October alone, an increase of 14.9% in comparison to the previous month of September, according to the data released this Monday by the Bank of Portugal (BdP).

The Portuguese banking regulator informed that €638.97m in new consumer credit loans were granted that month. This amount corresponds to an increase of 14.9% in comparison to September — that month, banks granted consumers around €556.06m in credit. October’s value is the highest recorded since consumer credit reached its historic high at €669m in May.

Christmas time is around the corner, and the so is the Christmas shopping spree, and as such October is typically a month in which this type of credit requests increase; however, even compared with the same month last year, there was an increase of 2.5% (from the €623.54m registered in Oct 2017).