Lending to Irish households is continuing to decline, falling by 3.7 per cent in April, according to new figures from the Central Bank.

Loans for house purchase, which account for 78 per cent of total household loans, fell at an annual rate of 3.1 per cent. Lending for consumption and other purposes declined by 5.8 per cent.

Household loan repayments exceeded drawdowns by €462 million, the data show. This follows a decrease of €85 million in March.

Lending to businesses was also lower during the month with loan repayments exceeding drawdowns by €962 million in April. This represents the seventeenth consecutive monthly decline in loans.

Credit institutions’ borrowings from the Central Bank as part of the Eurosystem monetary policy operations fell by €1.2 billion last month, following a €3.1 billion decrease in March.

On an annual basis, deposits from the Irish resident private sector declined at a rate of 0.4 per cent in April 2014, following a fall of 0.1 per cent in March.