Romanians borrowed more money in local currency in April this year, but avoided loans in foreign currencies, according to data from the Romanian Central Bank.

The non-governmental loans in Romanian currency lei granted by credit institutions increased at the end of April by 7.7% year-on-year.  This was due to the increase in household credits by 17.5%. The foreign currency component expressed in lei went down by 11.6%, according to the Romanian National Bank.The increase on the corporate segment was smaller - just 1%.

Meanwhile, the foreign currency loans expressed in foreign currencies dropped by 11.6%, mostly because companies slowed down lending . Compared to March 2015, the total non-government loans dropped by 0.2%, to EUR 47.2 billion.

The governmental loans decreased by 5.1% in April compared to March, to EUR 19.2 billion. Compared to April 2014, it increased by 7.6%.

meanwhile, Romanians, both individuals and companies, saved more money, with deposits going up 6.3% year-on-year in April. The only segment which recorded a drop was for corporate deposits in foreign currencies, down 2% year-on-year.

The full set of data for April for BNR is here.

editor@romania-insider.com