Overdue loans above 10% of the total in Bistriţa, Galaţi and Ialomiţa

The regions that are heavily dependent on a single industry or where clients have a high indebtedness level are causing bankers the biggest headaches, with the weight of overdue instalments in the total amount of loans granted to the individuals and companies going beyond 10% in several counties, according to NBR data.
Bistriţa residents in late July led the bad payers' ranking, with the weight of overdue sums standing at almost 11.3% in the total loan volume. A rate of overdue loans of above 10% was also registered in Ialomiţa and Galaţi, two of the counties with the highest number of unemployed people.
Suceava, Botoşani and Arad also had a high level of overdue payments, of 9.8%, 9.7% and 9.27%, respectively.
The rate of overdue loans at a national level stood at 6.5% in July, up from 6.4% in June.
Bankers currently expect a new wave of bad loans after Government's austerity measures postponing economy revival to next year at the earliest. Six months ago, when the economy seemed to be recovering, they estimated he bad loan peak would be reached in the third quarter of 2010.