FRANKFURTAMSTERDAM, Feb 23 Reuters The German and Dutch central banks on Friday posted multibillion euro losses for 2023 and predicted more financial pain ahead, suggesting that they are unlikely to pay dividends into state coffers for years to come.

The European Central Bank and some of its largest national affiliates are generating large losses, depleting provisions and much of their equity, as sharply higher interest rates force them to pay out billion in interest to commercial banks.

The Bundesbank said it lost 21.6 billion euros 23.36 billion last year, wiping out nearly all of its provisions while its Dutch counterpart lost 3.5 billion euros, both broadly in line with expectations.

The financial burdens are likely to persist for several years, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said. We … expect them to be considerable again for the current year.

The Bundesbank said the loss in 2023 had wiped out nearly all of its provisions and that a 2.4 billion euro portion of this loss would be covered from reserves.

In 2024 the German loss will exceed the remaining 0.7 billion euro reserves, so the Bundesbank will be forced to carry the losses forward, setting them aside to be offset by future profits.

We therefore do not expect to be able to distribute any profit for a longer period of time, Nagel added.

The Dutch central bank, meanwhile, said that its buffers should be big enough to cover future losses and a recapitalisation by the government is not being…