Monthly bank lending figures are likely to become increasingly inaccurate as the number of non-Irish lenders in the market increase.

Official figures released yesterday showed a small slowdown in lending. However, this was distorted by the exclusion of Woodchester, one of the biggest suppliers of lease finance for motor industry and agricultural machinery, following its acquisition by South African group Investec.

Mortgage figures are also underestimated with lending from Bank of Scotland also left out of the figures.

A Central Bank spokesman confirmed that it cannot ask non-Irish based institutions for their figures. As a result any lending on Tesco credit cards or other new entrants from the UK or elsewhere will not be included. In an increasingly international environment this is likely to cast doubt on the credibility of the Irish statistics.

Yesterday's data showed that borrowing by Irish residents fell slightly in April to an annual rate of 28.6 per cent from 34.7 per cent in March, or an adjusted 30 per cent.

The annual rate had been inflated in March and previous months because of the statistical treatment of the merger in April 1999 between Irish Life and Irish Permanent.

According to Bloxham Stockbrokers economist Mr Alan McQuaid, adjusting for this, the rate of growth in March was just below 30 per cent.

Lending rose by €978 million to 101.6 billion in April, a rise of 1 per cent compared with a rise of 4.6 per cent in March.

The rate of growth in residential mortgage remained the same at 20.2 per cent.