Commercial loan balances stablilize

According to data released by the Bank of Canada, commercial and corporate lending by Canadian Chartered banks is stablizing. The category is “Business loans to Canadian residents for business purposes”:

December: $191.563 billion
January: $185.679 billion
February: $183.759 billion
March: $184.089 billion
April: $181.811 billion
May: $180.191 billion
June: $177.865 billion
July: $176.164 billion
August: $175.318 billion
September: $172.652 billion
October: $172.592 billion
November: $169.928 billion
December: $170.930 billion
January: $169.423 billion
February: $169.604 billion
March: $170.959 billion

Commercial and corporate lending by chartered banks to Canadian-based businesses is still down $20.5 billion since December 2008, but the flat balances of the past five months speak to some sort of stabilization in the loan book. Intentional or otherwise.

MRM