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BANKING

MARCH QUARTER 2008

Assets & Liabilities

Net foreign assets for March quarter 2008 has deteriorated by 20.0% when compared to December quarter 2007 for all banks surveyed.
Net domestic credit decreased by 6.0% over December quarter 2007.
Loans & Advances by Industry

Total lending for March quarter 2008 increased by 4.5% over the previous quarter. All categories increased their borrowings this March quarter except for Public Administration and Transport & Communication categories which decreased by 5.9% and 1.2% respectively. Significant increases came from Finance and Business 23.7% followed by Other 13.6% and Wholesale & Retail trade 10.3%.
Money Supply

Narrow money (M1) increased for the March quarter 2008 by 10.3% and Broad Money (M3) decreased over the previous quarter by 2.7%, this is explained by the fall in Term/savings deposits of 6.2%.

Interest Rates
All interest rates remain the same for this quarter except for the rates regarding the loans for ANZ and Westpac banks. Housing loans interest rates increased to 11.25% and 11.0% for ANZ and Westpac respectively. Business loans also increased to 11.0% and 10.95% along with Interest rates for Personal loans to 16.8% and 16.5% for ANZ and Westpac respectively over the December quarter 2007.