The number of Romanians unable to pay their credit instalmentson time has risen from one month to the next lately, with the ratioof overdue loans exceeding 6% in many counties, and approaching 10%in Bistrita-Nasaud.
Overdue amounts in Bistrita county stood at over 203 million RON(around 50 million euros) at the end of March, accounting for 9.4%of all credits granted. In Suceava, the ratio of overdue loans wasclose to 8% in March, compared with a 5.2% average acrossRomania.
Analysts say unemployment is one of the key factors that led toa deeper deterioration of banks' credit portfolios in certain partsof the country. For instance, in Bistrita, the unemployment rateexceeds 8.6%, while in Suceava it amounts to 8.3%, compared with anaverage of just over 8%. In Arges and Ialomita, which feature inthe top five in terms of the ratio of overdue payments, theunemployment rate is 9.4% and 12.2% respectively. Radu Ghetea,chairman of CEC Bank and of the Romanian Banking Association, saidrecently that the high ratio of overdue payments could also beexplained by the shallow approach of the local management to loanapplications. Ghetea says CEC's entire management team was replacedin Bistrita.
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