In May, deposit interest rates rose while lending rates declined, narrowing the interest rate spread between new deposits and loans to 4.30 percentage points—down from 4.45 points in April, according to the Bank of Greece (BoG).
Deposit Rates
The BoG reported that the average weighted interest rate on all new deposits increased by 3 basis points to 0.35% in May 2026, compared with the previous month.
Specifically:
- The average overnight deposit rate for households remained unchanged at 0.03%.
- The corresponding rate for corporate deposits held nearly steady at 0.10%.
- The average rate on household deposits with a fixed term of up to one year stayed virtually flat at 1.14%.
- For corporate deposits with terms up to one year, the average rate rose by 17 basis points to 1.93%.
Lending Rates
The average weighted interest rate on all new loans to households and businesses fell by 12 basis points to 4.65%.
Breakdown by loan type:
- Consumer loans without a fixed term—including credit card debt, overdrafts, and open-ended lines of credit—remained nearly unchanged at 14.63%.
- Consumer loans with fixed terms and variable rates dropped by 19 basis points to 10.75%.
- Variable-rate housing loans held steady at 3.50%.
- Business loans without a fixed term were little changed at 4.61%.
- Professional loans remained unchanged at 6.85%.
- New business loans with fixed terms and variable rates declined by 20 basis points to 4.20%.
- Variable-rate loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fell by 15 basis points to 4.43%.
Loan Size Breakdown
By loan size:
- Loans up to €250,000 saw their average rate rise by 8 basis points to 5.09%.
- Loans between €250,001 and €1 million increased by 14 basis points to 4.54%.
- Loans above €1 million decreased by 22 basis points to 4.15%.