Companies are back in the market for credit but Irish consumers are still more concerned about paying back old debts than borrowing for fresh spending, according to Central Bank money and banking statistics .

The November data shows that household loan repayments exceeded loan drawdowns by €335 million during the month, while companies borrowed €139 million more than they repaid.

Companies’ medium-term debt borrowings are the biggest climbers, up a net €205 million in November, suggesting a nascent puck-up in investment. Over the first 11 months of 2014, however, the debt levels of Irish companies fell by 6.4 per cent.

Among consumers, annual repayments had exceeded drawdowns on home loans by €2.2 billion by the end of November, while net repayments on non-housing consumer debts fell by €1.6 billion.

There was €174 billion on deposit at the end of November, with 53 per cent of this accounted for by household savings.

Bank borrowings from the Central Bank, as part of the Eurosystem’s liquidity programme, fell by €1.2 billion, as Irish banks moved back towards more mainstream funding methods.