Italian banks are lending less to households and businesses, data from Italy's central bank showed Friday. According to a report by the Bank of Italy, loans fell 1.6 percent in January on an annual basis, marking an even sharper contraction compared to 0.9 percent in the previous month. Interest rates on new loans to non-financial companies fell slightly to 4.39 percent from 4.43 percent of the last month of 2012. Meantime, bad loans showed a 17.5 percent hike in January, while private sector deposits continued growing to 7.7 percent, up from 7 percent in December 2012.