Romanians borrow more in local currency, savings also go up

Romanians borrowed more money in local currency in April this year, but avoided loans in foreign currencies, according to data from the Romanian Central Bank. The non-governmental loans in Romanian currency lei granted by credit institutions increased at the end of April by 7.7% year-on-year. This was due to the increase in household credits by 17.5%. The foreign currency component expressed in lei went down by 11.6%, according to the Romanian National Bank.The increase on the corporate segment was smaller - just 1%. Meanwhile, the foreign currency loans expressed in foreign currencies dropped by 11.6%, mostly because companies slowed down lending . Compared to March 2015, the total non-government loans dropped by 0.2%, to EUR 47.2 billion. The governmental loans decreased by 5.1% in April compared to March, to EUR 19.2 billion. Compared to April 2014, it increased by 7.6%. meanwhile, Romanians, both individuals and companies, saved more money, with deposits going up 6.3% year-on-year in April. The only segment which recorded a drop was for corporate deposits in foreign currencies, down 2% year-on-year. The full set of data for April for BNR is here. editor@romania-insider.com