Loans to Irish households declined by 4.5% in the year ending May 2013 following a decrease of 4.3% in April.

Lending for house purchase was down 2.1% over the year, while lending for consumption and other purposes was 11.5% lower for the same period.

Meanwhile households’ repayments of loans to credit institutions exceeded draw-downs by €507 million during the month of May. Developments in May were mainly driven by a decrease of €322 million in loans for house purchase.

The Central Bank says lending to Irish resident non-financial corporations (NFCs) fell by 5.1% in the year ending May 2013 and this follows a decrease of 4.8% in April.

While private-sector deposits rose at an annual rate of 7.6%, following a 7.7% increase in the year ending April 2013 and deposits from households fell by 0.3%.

But there was a month-on-month decrease of €197 million in Irish resident private-sector deposits during May.