Cross-border lending to Romania was down by almost USD 10 billion at the end of last year, compared to 2009, according to a report from the Bank for International Settlements.

Cross-border lending for the non-banking system was also down by over USD 7 billion in the last two years, from USD 27.2 billion in 2009, to USD 20.1 billion end - last year.

The data refers to assets financed externally in the economy, and includes lending from foreign banks to companies, banks and state institutions in Romania.

Worldwide cross-border lending went down in the last quarter of the year at the steepest rate since the last quarter of 2008, after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy.

Lending between banks had the biggest decreases, especially for banks in the eurozone, which are affected by the state debt crisis and the need to reduce risk and align to new international banking regulations.

Foreign banks' exposure in Romania went down last year by 5.4 percent to some USD 107 billion. For European banks, exposure was down by 5.7 percent, to some USD 102.5 million.

editor@romania-insider.com