About 18% of the Romanian banks plan to tighten lending terms for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by the end of the year, according to a survey conducted by Romania's National Bank (BNR), quoted by Economica.net.

About 30% of banks said that credit risk for SMEs increased.

According to the survey, the largest cut in the SME's scoring would be operated for companies operating in trade and real estate sectors, while tourism and transport follow closely.

This comes hardly as a surprise, given the shock the banking system expects after the loan repayment moratorium expires at the beginning of 2020 and the visible financial problems faced by some sectors, which go beyond mere liquidity problems.

In contrast, the banks tend to maintain the lending terms constant for individuals while increasing the down payment required for mortgage loans.

Many banks believe that the share of the value of a real estate property purchase financed by mortgage loans, which has fallen from 74% to 71%, will continue to fall.

This means that banks will increase the front payment value for property acquisition to 35% or even above this level.

(Photo: Shuttersock)

andrei@romania-insider.com