(ANSA) - Italian families appear to be getting deeper in debt with a 14.5% increase in loans extended in 2004, over the previous year when loans jumped 10.3%, according to a report from the Bank of Italy.
Between 1998 and 2004, the report added, loans rose by an annual rate of 15.9% and jumped from 7.5% to 14.5% in regards to GDP.
According to the central bank, 22.1% of Italian families are in debt, 25.5% in the north, 23.6% in central Italy and 16.5% in the south. The sharp increase in the number of loans extended over the past three years, the report explained, was in large part due to low interest rates which convinced many families, among other things, to seek mortgages and buy real estate.
Mortgages, in fact, lept 19.3% in 2004, after already jumping 15.8% in 2003.
According to the Bank of Italy, the drop in mortgage rates and the increase in family income more than compensated for the recent upsurge in housing prices. Italians are also embracing the use of their ATM cards, the central bank said, even if they trend to withdraw small amounts.
The number of ATM withdrawals, the bank reported, rose 4.3% in 2004 over the previous year, while payments using the cards were up 6%. The average ATM withdrawal in 2004 was 144 euros.
