Non-governmental lending down by one billion euros in October

The volume of non-governmental lending fell by over one billion RON in October, to 206.8 billion RON, after it had been revived in the summer months amid the faster rise of foreign-currency loans.

The weakest performance was recorded by individual loans, which saw a 2.1% decline in the volume of funding in RON last month, to 36.5 billion RON, while foreign currency loans were down by more than one percent, to 64.7 billion RON (the equivalent of 15 billion euros), show data of the NBR (National Bank of Romania).
"The decline of individual loans is directly connected to the austerity measures. In previous months, the impact of these measures was not very apparent because there were loan repatriations, but since we are not talking about repatriations anymore, a more anaemic image of the market is beginning to emerge," comments Nicolaie Chideşciuc, chief economist of ING Bank.
Compared with the autumn of last year, the volume of RON-denominated loans for the population fell by nearly 7%, with bankers saying that only promotional offers are able to give the market a boost because the clients' reluctance to become indebted remains high. Banks' appetite for lending is not very significant, either, with loans becoming more expensive in the past few months.