Nicosia, Cyprus. The Central Bank of Cyprus this week published new figures showing that significant differences remain between interest rates offered by Cypriot banks and those prevailing across the eurozone, although the gap has narrowed in several categories. The report showed that both deposit rates and lending rates in Cyprus continue to diverge from eurozone averages.
Household deposits
For new household deposits with maturities of up to one year, the average interest rate in Cyprus stood at 1.20 per cent, compared with 1.89 per cent across the eurozone.
Among domestic institutions, the National Bank of Greece offered the highest rate at 1.55 per cent, while the Bank of Cyprus offered the lowest at 0.82 per cent.
Corporate deposits
For new deposits by non-financial corporations with maturities of up to one year, the average interest rate in Cyprus fell to 1.23 per cent, down from 1.39 per cent in the previous month.
This remained below the eurozone average of 1.98 per cent.
In this category, Ancoria Bank provided the highest return at 1.64 per cent, while the Housing Finance Corporation offered the lowest rate at 0.78 per cent.
Existing household time deposits
Interest rates on existing household time deposits with maturities of up to two years averaged 0.77 per cent, broadly unchanged from the previous two months and lower than the corresponding eurozone rate of 1.72 per cent.
The highest rate in this category was offered by Jordan Kuwait Bank at 1.56 per cent, while the Bank of Cyprus provided the lowest rate at 0.51 per cent.
The Central Cooperative Bank and First Investment Bank recorded zero interest rates in this category.