Overall bank lending in Japan was up 2.6 percent on year in December, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday, coming in at 509.555 trillion yen.
That beat forecasts for an increase of 2.5 percent and was up from 2.4 percent in November.
Excluding trusts, bank lending was also up 2.6 percent to 443.274 trillion yen. That also exceeded expectations for 2.5 percent and was up from 2.4 percent in the previous month.
Lending from trusts gained an annual 2.3 percent to 66.280 trillion yen, while lending from foreign banks spiked 19.8 percent to 2.227 trillion yen.
For the third quarter of 2016, overall lending and lending minus trusts both were up 2.5 percent.
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