Central Bank figures show that lending to small and medium sized businesses by Irish banks fell by €217m (0.8%) during the first quarter of 2012 and by €1.7 billion (6.3%) over the year.
This brings the total outstanding amount of loans to SMEs at the end of March to €27.1 billion and comes after an annual decline of 6.2% in 2011.
The bank said credit advanced to all non-financial, non-property related companies fell by €558m over the quater (1.4%) and €2.2 billion (5.2%) to the end of the first quarter of this year.
This brings the total credit outstanding to companies to €39.8 billion.
The figures also show that credit advanced to property and construction related businesses fell by 0.2% over the year to the end of March after a quarterly decrease of €215m in the first quarter
