The more than 4 million Romanian with credit lines pay loan instalments to banks of some EUR 6 billion (RON 27 billion) annually, according to the calculations made by local business daily Zf.ro.

Thus, basically, Romanians pay in bank instalments as much as they pay annually to hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores, except cash & carry stores, writes Zf.ro.

The latest data provided by the country’s Central Bank BNR shows that, on average, 23 percent of a Romanian's income goes towards debt payments.

Local Zf.ro reports that Romanian clients make a visibly higher effort to pay the instalments compared to other Europeans, the average level of indebtedness in the euro area being about 14 percent of an individual's gross income.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com