New loans to small and medium sized businesses by Irish resident credit institutions reached €959 million in the first quarter of this year, down 6% on the same time last year.
New data from the Central Bank of Ireland shows that lending to hotels was particularly strong during the first three months of this year, with the highest new lending volumes since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In contrast, lending to SMEs in the in Primary Industries was 26% lower in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same time last year.
The figures show that the outstanding stock of SME credit on the balance sheets of Irish banks increased by 0.4% over the first quarter of this year to stand at €18.3 billion.
This included €5.4 billion relating to property and €12.7 billion of core SME credit.
Meanwhile, net lending to SMEs was €78 million during the first three months, compared with a net flow of €179 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Annually, repayments exceeded new lending by €280 million over the year to end-March.
The data shows negative growth since collection commenced in 2011, though current declines are smaller than have been seen previously.
The weighted average interest rates on outstanding SME loans increased very slightly in the quarter, rising by one basis point to 3.41%.
However, the data shows there was a drop of 9 basis points over the year.
The interest rate on new SME loan drawdowns decreased by 13 basis points over the first quarter of 2022, and now stands at 3.68%.
This was the lowest quarterly interest rate since the series began.
Higher than average rates were charged to the Construction and Business, and Administrative Services sectors.
