Interest rates charged by Italian banks to businesses have returned to the "Lehman-Subprime" era. Last August, at the peak of the last few months, the average rate on bank loans to businesses, those up to 1 million euros, had reached 5.62 percent, which compares with 6.47 percent in October 2008 (the U.S. subprime mortgage era) and 5.99 percent in December 2007 (shortly after the blizzard unleashed by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy). That double financial earthquake, which originated in the United States but had major repercussions in Europe as well, caused a heavy credit crunch and a long recessionary phase until the weakening of the euro at the turn of 2011-2012. Only the ECB's very accommodating monetary policy saved the European single currency and fostered a general recovery of the Old Continent's economies. This is what the Unimpresa Study Center writes in a paper in which it notes that 15 to 16 years later, a similar situation has arisen in Italy from the point of view of the credit market: the flare-up in rates is causing a sharp drop in demand for loans and a consequent, huge reduction in disbursements by banks.
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