Lending growth at banks failed to accelerate for the second straight month in August as the economy moved closer to a recession and rising bankruptcies among real-estate companies forced banks to cut earnings forecasts, Bank of Japan data showed Monday.
Loans excluding those by credit associations rose 2 percent in August from a year earlier after expanding at the same pace in July, the BOJ said. Lending by the 10 city banks, including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., rose 1 percent, the same as the previous month. It was the fourth consecutive gain.
The economy contracted an annualized 2.4 percent in the three months ended June 30 as exports fell, bringing the country to the brink of its first recession in six years, data from the Cabinet Office showed Aug. 13. Sixteen regional lenders cut profit forecasts in the past two months as bankruptcies reached a five-year high.