Romanians have much smaller loans taken out compared with customers of banks in neighbouring countries. At the end of last year, each Romanian had, on average, contracted loans worth 500 euros, compared with around 1,700 euros for Hungarians, or 1,300 euros in the case of Polish customers. "The population has potential in terms of the demand for loans, given that the average loan per capita is three times smaller compared with Hungary". This was the conclusion NBR governor Mugur Isarescu (photo) arrived at in a recently delivered lecture at the "George Bacovia" University in Bacau. The governor highlighted the fact that the population had positive expectations with regard to incomes and job security, which overlapped with a "still low" degree of white goods possession. Even though Romanians have much smaller contracted loans compared with customers in the countries that joined the EU in 2004, the loans have to be correlated with incomes, which are also several times smaller than on the above-mentioned markets. Isarescu also noted a rapid increase in population debt amid a fast expansion in lending. Six months into the year, loans granted to the population accounted for 45% of overall private lending. In addition, Isarescu believes there is reason for concern over a rapid rise in population borrowing. Besides a high appetite for foreign-currency loans, which entail taking a certain exchange rate risk, the population continues to favour consumer loans. On more mature markets, customers' behaviour is quite the opposite, with real estate loans being preferred.
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