ECB loans 7.3 bln euros to banks at ultra-cheap rates

FRANKFURT - Agence France-Presse

AFP photo

The European Central Bank said March 24 that it had leant 7.3 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in ultra-cheap loans to banks in the latest round of its plan to kick-start lending to households and businesses.The uptake in the ECB’s liquidity program, known as TLTRO, was lower than in previous rounds. It will be succeeded in June by an even cheaper loan scheme.In its seventh round of lending under the Targeted Long-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs), first launched in September 2014, a total 19 banks borrowed 7.3 billion euros at a fixed rate of zero percent, the ECB said.The amount was much lower than in previous rounds: in December last year, 55 banks borrowed 18.3 billion euros while in September, 88 had borrowed 15.6 billion euros.The TLTRO scheme was designed as a way of kick-starting lending in the euro area because the ECB makes the cash available to banks on condition they lend it on to households and businesses. But the current program is to be replaced by an updated liquidity program from June, under which loans will be made available to banks for a period of four years at even better rates.