Bank loans hike up to RON 6.3 bln in March y-o-y

Newsroom 03/05/2016 | 16:37

Bank loans given out to the population and companies in March saw a strong increase of 26 percent in March 2016 over the same month of the previous year, according to statistics from the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

Standing at RON 6.3 billion, bank loans came close to record values established in June 2015, when they reached a peak of RON 6.6 billion. In March 2015 credits taken out from banks reached RON 5 billion.

The total stock of existing loans for individuals and companies in the portfolios of banks at the end of March was RON 216.3 billion, up 2.8 percent from the same month last year.

The big difference between the two types of loans can be explained by the existence of two phenomena: on the one hand old loans that have come to maturity and have been repaid in full, and on the other hand there are the NPLs which have been sold to debt collection firms, with some banks still continuing with the process of cleaning out risky loans granted during the euphoria before the 2008 crisis.

Of the total new loans worth RON 6.3 billion granted by banks in March, most of them were financing for companies (RON 3.2 billion).

Loans given out to the population amounted to RON 3.1 billion, granted almost entirely in the national currency. Loans denominated in EUR reached RON 142 million, such credits still being restricted by BNR after the 2008 crisis.

Of the total new loans in RON for the population, RON 1.2 billion were mortgage loans in national currency and RON 1.7 billion were consumer loans.