“In the fourth quarter of 2022, the banks in the eurozone expect a significantly greater tightening of credit standards for companies”, writes the ECB on the basis of a survey conducted among 153 companies.

“In addition, banks in the eurozone expect lending conditions to continue to tighten for both home loans and consumer credit,” she adds.

According to the banks, the ECB’s interest rate hike helped to tighten the criteria for granting loans and dampened demand for credit.

The European Central Bank has raised its key interest rates by 125 basis points since July, and a further increase of 75 points is expected by markets on Thursday after its monetary policy meeting. Further increases are not excluded in 2023.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; French version by Claude Chendjou, editing by Bertrand Boucey)