(Corrects paragraph 3 to ... the loan balance fell 1.6 percent ... not, 1.8 percent)
TOKYO, April 12 (Reuters) - Outstanding loans held by Japanese banks fell 1.7 percent 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 yen ($5.39 trillion).
Excluding factors such as loan write-offs, the loan balance fell 1.6 percent from the same month a year earlier.
Following is a table of Japanese bank lending and outstanding commercial paper held by banks (preliminary, with year-on-year percentage changes; some previous figures may be revised):
MAR FEB JAN Banks including shinkin: -1.7 -1.9 -1.8 Banks excluding shinkin: -1.8 -2.0 -1.9 Outstanding CP held by banks: +0.2 -6.3 -8.6
To view the full tables, go to
http://www.boj.or.jp/statistics/dl/depo/kashi/kasi1103.pdf
($1 = 84.600 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
CORRECTED-Japan March bank loans down 1.7 pct yr/yr
