Bank of France loaned banks record 218bn euro

PARIS: The Bank of France loaned banks a record 218.2 billion euros in December, up from 166.6 billion euros in November, the French central bank's balance sheet showed on Tuesday.

The Bank of France's lending to the banking sector was the highest on record in December, topping the 215.3 billion euros in December 2008 at the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, figures from Thomson Reuters Datastream showed.

The European Central Bank injected 489 billion euros of three-year liquidity into the banking system in December in order to fend off a credit crunch and keep loans flowing to the euro zone economy.