The Euribor rate rose this Wednesday at three, six and 12 months to new highs since December 2008.
The 12-month Euribor rate, currently the most commonly used in Portugal for floating rate home loans, was raised this Wednesday and set at 3.944%, plus 0.036 points, a new maximum since December 2008.
According to the Bank of Portugal, the 12-month Euribor already represents 43% of loans for permanent homeowners with variable rates, while the six-month Euribor represents 32%.
After rising to 0.005% on April 12, 2022, positive for the first time since February 5, 2016, the 12-month Euribor has been in positive territory since April 21, 2022.
The 12-month Euribor average rose from 3.338% in January to 3.534% in February, plus 0.196 points.
Within six months, the Euribor rate, which entered positive territory on June 6, also rose to 3.451% this Wednesday, 0.033 point more than on Tuesday and a new maximum since December 2008.
The six-month Euribor was negative for six years and seven months (between November 6, 2015 and June 3, 2022).
The six-month Euribor average increased from 2.864% in January to 3.135% in February, plus 0.271 point.
The three-month Euribor, which rose for the first time since April 2015 on July 14, rose to 2.944% this Wednesday, up 0.024 points and a new high since December 2008.
Between 21 April 2015 and 13 July 2015 (seven years and two months), the three-month Euribor rate was negative.
The three-month Euribor average increased from 2.354% in January to 2.640% in February, or an increase of 0.286 points.
The Euribor started to rise more sharply since 4 February 2022 after the European Central Bank (ECB) admitted that it may raise key interest rates this year due to the increase in inflation in the Eurozone and the trend was reinforced with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
At its last monetary policy meeting, on February 2, the ECB raised key interest rates again by 50 basis points, the same increase as on December 15, when the pace of increases began to slow from the two previously recorded, which were 75 basis points respectively on December 15. October 27 and September 8.
On 21 July, the ECB raised the three main interest rates by 50 basis points for the first time in 11 years.
The three-, six- and 12-month Euribor rates recorded historic lows of -0.605% on December 14, 2021, -0.554% and -0.518% on December 20, 2021, respectively.
The Euribor is determined by the average of the rates at which a group of 57 banks in the eurozone are willing to lend each other money on the interbank market.
Source: DN
