FRANKFURT — Banks have agreed to borrow 82.6 billion euros from the European Central Bank in a first test of a program designed to encourage more lending to businesses and households and pump money into the ailing eurozone economy.
Estimates of how much money banks would borrow had varied widely, but several analysts said before the central bank announced the amount on Thursday that anything less than 100 billion euros, or $129 billion, would be a disappointment.
The loans are designed to drive down the cost of borrowing and encourage lending, especially in countries like Italy or Portugal, where a lack of credit has impeded economic growth.
The program is part of a broader effort by the central bank to inject as much as €1 trillion into the eurozone economy, and the borrowing data Thursday was closely watched as an indicator of whether the central bank would be able to meet its goal.
Under the program, banks can borrow money at a fixed annual interest rate of 0.15 percent for four years, but will need to show that they lent the money on to businesses or households. The money cannot be used to finance real estate purchases. If banks fail to lend the money according to E.C.B. guidelines, they will have to pay it back within two years.
Despite the attractive interest rate, there was uncertainty as to whether banks would want the funds, either because of a lack of demand for credit or a dearth of creditworthy borrowers.
The central bank cash was likely to be most attractive to banks in countries like Italy, where the central bank interest rate was about 1 percentage point lower than market rates available to banks, according to economists at UBS.
"The cheap funding opportunity offered by the E.C.B. should benefit Spanish and Italian banks the most, in particular the second tier banks," economists at UBS said in a note to investors Tuesday.
In addition, many banks are behaving cautiously until they know how well they have fared in stress tests being conducted separately by the central bank.
The results of the stress tests, as well as of a comprehensive review of bank assets designed to flush out hidden problems, are due in late October. Many analysts expect banks to take fuller advantage of the cheap cash when the E.C.B. issues a second round of loans in December. By then, banks will have a better idea where they stand in the eyes of regulators.
Analysts predicted that the two rounds of loans together would add up to about €300 billion, with most of the money being issued in December.
The cheap cash is part of a wider effort by the European Central Bank to stimulate the bloc's economy.
Earlier this month, the central bank said that, beginning in October, it would begin buying bundles of loans from banks known as asset-backed securities. The program would allow banks to package real estate, business or even credit card loans into bonds, which they can sell to the central bank to free up money for new lending.
The central bank has not said explicitly how much money it wants to inject into the economy through the various measures. But Mario Draghi, the president of the E.C.B., implied earlier this month that the central bank's goal is to add €1 trillion.
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