Irish households are continuing to get out of debt. The latest figures from the Central Bank show the average Irish householder has debts of around €37,500 each.
That is the lowest level of household debt since the end of 2006.
However the drop is largely as a result of a fall in new loans to householders while older loans are slowly paid off.
The Bank says overall, household debt fell during the 1st quarter of this year by €1.6 billion - or almost 1%.
It also says that household debt sustainability indicators were largely unchanged, despite the reduction in debt.
Debt as a proportion of disposable income fell by just 0.1 percentage points to just over 197%. The Bank says the decline in debt was partly outstripped by a decrease in disposable income.
Household net worth kept a downward trend during the first quarter of 2013, decreasing by €1.8 billion.
