WASHINGTON – Despite the ups and downs the national economy is going through, credit unions posted strong balance sheet growth in the second quarter 2002, continuing a trend they showed in the first quarter of the year, according to Callahan & Associates' First Look Program. The data is based on information provided by 327 credit unions with combined assets of $143 billion. These CUs grew shares an average of 8.2% in the first six months of 2002. Though that growth was slower than it was for the first six months of 2001 – 9.6% – it is still higher than it was for the entire year of 2000 – 6.7%. Share growth continues to be led by short-term savings categories with regular shares and money market shares growing 16.1% and 13.3%, respectively, in the last six months among the 327 CUs. In addition, cost of funds remained steady in the second quarter compared to the first quarter – 2.9%. This is down from the 4.5% recorded through the first six months of 2001.