FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's central bank posted a large financial loss for 2023 and said that further losses were still ahead so it was unlikely to pay any dividends into the state coffers for some time.

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 of euros 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, and that a 2.4 billion euro portion of this loss would be covered from reserves.

($1 = 0.9246 euros)

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; editing by Jason Neely)