WASHINGTON — Banks are lending the most since the recession ended in June 2009, supporting an economy weighed down by 8.3 percent unemployment.
Borrowing by consumers and businesses rose in the week ending July 25 to $7.1 trillion, within 2.9 percent of its October 2008 peak, according to Federal Reserve data. New lending for autos jumped to $134.3 billion in the first four months of the year, up 56 percent from the same period in 2009, according to credit bureau Equifax.
The increase in lending may prevent the economy from slowing further after growth cooled to a 1.5 percent annual pace in the second quarter. While the Fed last week moved closer to expanding its record stimulus, the figures on credit indicate that 43 months of near-zero interest rates may finally be giving the economy the jolt it needs, said Jim Paul-sen, who helps oversee $320 billion as chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.
“Many pieces of the credit-creation process are starting to work again,” Paulsen said. “Banks are lending, people are borrowing, housing prices are going up, and a sense of normality is returning.”
Among the reasons for the pickup in lending: Households, whose spending makes up 70 percent of the economy, have cut debt since the 2008-09 credit crisis, while banks have increased liquidity and bolstered capital buffers.
