The stock of bank loans increased by only 10.6% YoY as of the end of February, losing momentum from 11.5% YoY in January and 12.1% in December, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) announced.

In real terms (CPI inflation was 15.5% YoY), the stock of loans contracted while the stock of loans to GDP (+17% YoY in Q4, latest data available) ratio edged down to 25.9%.

In absolute terms, the volume of bank loans to non-government customers was RON 365.9 bln (EUR 74.4 bln), out of which RON 250 bln (68.3% of the total) was denominated in local currency, and RON 115.9 bln (31.7% of total) was denominated in foreign currency.

Forex lending has been more active over the past 12 months, as the stock of loans denominated in such currency (euros, mostly) advanced by 27.4% YoY as the forex corporate loans leapt up by 43% (to RON 91.8 bln) while retail forex loans become less common (-10.8% YoY, to RON 24 bln).

When it comes to local currency loans (+4.3%), retail lending has advanced twice as fast as corporate lending (+5.4% YoY versus +2.7% YoY). Retail loans expressed in local currency were RON 146 bln (six times the stock of retail forex loans), while the corporate loans expressed in local currency were RON 103 bln (compared to RON 91.8 bln corporate forex loans).

iulian@romania-insider.com

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