Irish credit rose 1.4 per cent in January, a slight slowdown from a month earlier. Overall annual credit was growing at 32.6 per cent in January compared with 33.5 per cent at the end of December.
When technical factors - such as lending to non-bank companies in the International Financial Services Centre and for the Irish Life & Permanent merger last April - are taken into account, the rate fell back to 25 per cent in January from 27 per cent in December.
Residential mortgage lending rose slightly, with Irish residents borrowing £198 million (€251 million) in January to bring annual lending growth to 21.5 per cent from 21.3 per cent the previous month.
According to Mr Alan McQuaid, economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers, the rate of growth is still very high by European standards.
Irish money supply growth was 20 per cent, compared with an EU average of 5 per cent. This is still above the European Central Bank's 4.5 per cent target, which is likely to provoke an interest rate rise over the coming months.
The euro remained around $0.97 yesterday as traders waited for the outcome of the ECB's meeting today.
However, sterling continued to weaken very slightly following evidence that the strength of the British currency may again be impacting on the manufacturing sector.
The euro closed at 61.21p against sterling from 60.99p, and as a result the pound strengthened slightly to 77.71p from 77.43p. The euro closed at $0.9695 from $0.9634.
According to Mr Jim Power, chief economist at Bank of Ireland, a fall in the purchasing managers' index from 51.8 to 51.0 underlined the vulnerability of the British economy, which had been highlighted by Bank of England governor Mr Eddie George the previous day. "There is a growing sense that sterling may have reached its peak."
