Following the Central Bank of Cyprus decision to reduce the base rate by 1% in order to encourage banks to spur money flow in the market and to consumers, lending rates retreated in March.
According to the Central Bank, the average interest rate on deposits from households with an agreed maturity of up to 1 year continued its downward trend falling to 1.73% from 2.30% in February. The deposit rate for non-financial entities dropped for the 2nd consecutive month, to 1.57% whilst interest rate on consumer loans dropped for the 3rd consecutive month, to 4.69% in March from 5.19% the previous month. Interest rate on loans to non-financial entities for amounts exceeding €1 million dropped to 4.28% from 5.0% in the previous month.