On the program today we've got some debt, some jobs, some climate, and a really, really

expensive violin.

From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In Baltimore, I'm Amy Scott in Forkai Rizdal.

It's Wednesday, March 1st.

Good to have you with us.

It's been close to a year now since the Fed started nudging up interest rates to try

to slow down inflation.

The idea is by making borrowing more expensive for people and businesses, demand falls, and

prices stabilize.

So it's maybe a little surprising to learn from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

this week that banks have not seen borrowing slow down.

After all, the FDIC's quarterly survey of banks found that total loan balances rose from

the previous quarter and over the previous year.

Marketplace's Justin Ho explains.

The FDIC found that loan balances increased across the board, consumer loans, commercial

and industrial loans, even mortgages.

Peter Alden, the CEO of Bay State Savings Bank in Massachusetts.

It's a little surprising.

We thought we'd come through a year and an end of the first quarter with loan demand

based on the higher interest rates decreasing.

But Alden says inflation is pushing business clients to borrow so they can pay more for inventory.

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