New credit provided by the Cypriot banks rose in July to €300 million compared with €240 million in the previous month, data released by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) show.

For the period of January to July, pure new lending amounted to €2.03 billion compared with €1.93 billion in the respective period of last year, despite rising borrowing costs, driven by the increasing base rates by the European Central Bank to contain inflation.

Pure corporate loans over €1 billion, which is the largest loan group in the banking system, amounted €133.5 million from €61.2 million in the previous month and €86.2 million in July 2022.

Pure new credit for housing, remained broadly unchanged and amounted to €84.6 million from €84.4 million the month before and €77.5 million in the respective period of last year.

According to the CBC, corporate loans up to €1 million in July amounted to €47 million from €42.6 million in June and €36.8 million in July of 2022.

Pure new consumer credit rose to €24.1 million in July from €21.5 million the month before and €13.4 million in the corresponding period of 2022.

Other loans in July declined to €11.4 million from €30.1 million in June and €6.2 million in July 2022, the CBC said.