Business credit set to benefit

The de-escalation of lending rates, but also of interest rates on deposits by commercial banks, is expected to be slow, as banks await the next moves by the European Central Bank to determine their pricing policy.

The first reduction of 25 basis points, announced by the ECB on Thursday, will be reflected mainly in business loans linked directly to Euribor, which follows the downward path of the ECB's base rate, and less in loans to households. The central bank's first rate cut since 2019 signals to banks to prepare for the start of reductions, but as banking sources explain, a substantial decline in borrowing costs will be reflected in the coming months, if the ECB proceeds to further reductions.

The "inactivity" policy, as they describe it, has to do with specific peculiarities of the lending conditions in Greece for certain categories such as mortgages, since 90% of...