Japan March bank loans down 1.7pct yr/yr

Outstanding loans held by Japanese banks fell 1.7 per cent in March from a year earlier, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday, down for the 16th straight month and as the devastating earthquake also weighed on companies' demand for short-term funding.

Loans held by the country's four main categories of banks, including "shinkin" or credit unions, stood at ¥456.3336 trillion ($5.39 trillion). Excluding factors such as loan write-offs, the loan balance fell 1.8 per cent from the same month a year earlier.