MILAN: Bank lending to companies in Italy rose in November for the first time since April 2012 but soured loans blamed for holding back fresh credit continued to rise, topping 200 billion euros ($216 billion), data showed on Wednesday.
The Bank of Italy said bank loans to non-financial companies were up 0.2 percent in November after a 1.2 percent drop the previous month.
Corporate loans have been shrinking for nearly four years as the Italian economy sank into a prolonged recession that bankrupted hundreds of companies and saddled banks with a mountain of bad loans.
Non-performing loans at Italian banks rose 11 percent in November from a year earlier to 201.03 billion euros compared with 198.98 billion euros the previous month.
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