In one year, bank lending to firms and households dropped by more than €43 billion. The stock of loans issued to the private sector decreased from $1,351 billion to $1,307 billion between July 2022 and July 2023, a decline of more than 3%. Meanwhile, due to the slowing of economic growth and the rise in interest rates, the amount of non-performing loans has returned to grow, reaching over 16 billion last July, after a long period of decreasing trend, an increase of 580 million on an annual basis and an increase of more than 2 billion compared to July 2022. The monetary policy of the European Central Bank has cast a shadow over the bank lending scene. It was self-evident. With ten rises in the reference rate in just 14 months, loan conditions have become de facto prohibitive, and individuals with variable rate loans have faced an unanticipated surge in the cost of debt, with financial costs rising by up to 70-80%.