Corporate lending in Romania weakens in November

Corporate lending in Romania lost momentum in November, after the Government backed schema IMM Invest resulted in a visible positive impact in September and October, data published Romania’s National Bank (BNR) revealed.

Thus, the new loans extended to companies dropped to RON 2.44 bln (EUR 500 mln) in November, from RON 3.9 bln (EUR 800 mln) in October and RON 3.5 bln (EUR 710 mln) in September.

If the public statements are correct, it means that all the corporate loans over the three months were extended under the IMM Invest scheme.

Banks in Romania have extended about 23,000 loans totaling RON 10 billion (EUR 2 bln) to local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under IMM Invest, announced in December Dumitru Nancu, the head of the body that handles the program (FNGCIMM).

FNGCIMM has cleared loans worth RON 17 bln (EUR 3.5 bln), which can be extended by local banks, Stefan Nancu said.

Compared to the same period in 2019, the volume of new loans still increased by 4.5% in November - after hefty annual growth rates of some 50% in the previous couple of months.

Retail lending (to households) contracted by 12% year-on-year in November, to RON 3.0 bln (EUR 625 mln) after a 10% annual decline in October.

Origination of consumer loans plunged by 26% year-on-year to RON 1.5 bln while the mortgage lending defied the crisis (aided by the renewed First Home schema) and rose by 10% to nearly RON 1.5 bln as well.

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