(ANSA) - Rome, October 8 - The fall in the number of Italian bank loans slowed to -0.5% in August with respect to the same time last year, down from to a year-on-year fall of 0.6% in July, the Bank of Italy said on Thursday. The central bank said that the number of loans to households was 0.3% higher than August last year, while loans to businesses were down by 0.8%.
That is still better than the 1.1% fall in the number of loans to businesses registered in July.
The Non-performing loans of Italian banks rose by 14.2% in August over the same month in 2014, the Bank of Italy reported.
This compares to a year-on-year rise of 14.5% in non-performing loans in July. Non-performing loans were worth 198.4 billion euros in August, Italy's central bank added.