Bank of Ireland has said new credit approvals for businesses rose 13 per cent for the first nine months of the year with 88 per cent of applications receiving approval.

The bank said credit approvals to the end of September totalled €3.6 billion, up from €3.2 billion a for the same period a year earlier.

The €3.6 billion figure consists of new and increased lending, and does not include restructures or loan book acquisitions.

Bank of Ireland, which said it provides more than half of all new lending to Irish SMEs, reported just under 50,000 applications for new or increased credit in the period under review. This marks a 9 per cent rise versus the first nine months of 2014 when more than 45,000 applications were processed.

"Increased levels of activity in the agri sector have been primarily driven by land purchase and farm development as our customers make a carefully considered response to medium to long term growth opportunities afforded by the abolition of milk quotas – and we continue to approve funding to purchase about 500 acres of land per week, said director of business banking Mark Cunningham.

“There has also been a significant increase in lending for the purchase of commercial vehicles, indicating amongst other things that those in construction and related trades are starting to see a renewed pipeline of activity,” he added.