Prima Casa guarantees reached RON 1.6 bln, around 80 pct of the allocated ceiling

Newsroom 09/10/2018 | 11:57

Up until now, the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs, (FNGCIMM) as a trustee of the Romanian State through the Ministry of Public Finance, granted guarantees and promises of guarantee under the Prima Casa 2018 Program amounting to RON 1.6 billion, which represents about 80 percent of the allocated ceiling and distributed in 2018.

Under the Prima Casa 2018 Program, up to this date, around 18,000 guarantees and promises of guarantee have been granted. Beneficiaries of the Program remain young people under the age of 35, representing about 75 percent in the portfolio of guarantees granted by FNGCIMM.

But, Eugen Radulescu, the director of the Financial Stability Division of Romania’s National Bank (BNR) said recently that even if the Prima Casa program was well designed, its current form should be changed. According to Radulescu, the program needs to be adapted to serve those with fewer resources and not for holiday homes or for very expensive housing.

The future of Prima Casa

According to data provided by the FNGCIMM, the Prima Casa program has a future until 2021. The guarantees will be around RON 2 billion every year until 2020, inclusively, and will drop to RON 1.5 billion in 2021.

Remains to be seen if the pace can be kept, especially because it seems to slow down lately, and the market is not secure. The problem seems to be the fact that the ROBOR expanded three times in last 12 months, so the price of the Prima Casa loan is as expensive as a normal credit.