Construction still accounts for the largest component of actual new lending by the banks, according to the head of statistics at the Central Bank.
The figures raised eyebrows among members of the joint committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform today.
Joe McNeill said the most noteworthy figure is that year-on-year growth for the non-financial corporate sector is negative, which means in reality that repayments are outstripping new loans.
Senator Thomas Byrne asked Mr McNeill if he was reading the figures right; and that over 30% of all new lending is going to construction and real estate - €984m. Mr McNeill said that new lending continues to be dominated by construction.
Martin O'Brien from the Central Bank said new lending in this context is basically any increase in the principal amount to the borrower.
Earlier in the joint committee meeting, Michael Connolly of the CSO said the overall scale of debt for the non-financial corporate sector is nowhere near as serious for the real Irish economy as it might imply at first sight.
He said when you look at the detail, it is really about a globalised, internationalised economy which has very large debts but which also has very large assets. Mr Connolly said the two are offsetting one another.
During the presentation, the head of statistics of the Central Bank said its data shows that interest rates charged to Irish non-financial corporates for loans up to €1m and over €1m higher than for the euro area. He said this was in line with research presented by Central Bank economists at a conference that was held last Friday.
He said the Central Bank does not collect on interest rates for small and medium sized enterprises but the figures above are a good proxy for the rates charged to SMEs.
