Retail sector drives bank lending in Romania in January-April

The stock of local currency bank loans in Romania increased by 7.3% y/y to RON 269 billion at the end of April, accelerating from 6.4% y/y in March, according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

The government-backed guarantee schemes for companies are expected to revive corporate lending in the coming months, but for the first four months of the year, the retail segment generated most of the banking activity. Robust borrowing encouraged by lower interest rates also contributed to the buoyant advance of retail sales and private consumption in general.

Retail lending rose by 8.2% y/y to nearly RON 160 billion and has been the driving force behind the RON 4.3 billion advance of the local currency bank loans in January-April.

The stock of retail loans advanced by RON 5.5 billion after the monthly increase has gradually accelerated from 0.2% m/m in January to 1.4% m/m in April.

This led to a 3.5% ytd advance, compared to the slight ytd decrease in the stock of local currency corporate loans to RON 111.1 billion at the end of April.

Prior gains in 2023 kept the annual y/y performance of the corporate loans to +6.0% y/y.

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