The average daily balance of bank lending extended its slide into the seventh consecutive year in 2003, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
The figure was down 4.8 percent from a year earlier to 405.18 trillion yen, the BOJ said.
The lending fell 7.7 percent at three types of major banks and 4 percent at second-tier regional banks, but it edged up 0.4 percent at regional banks for the first rise in five years, the central bank said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.