Corporate lending continues to decrease in Romania

The new loans in Romanian lei and foreign currency granted by banks to companies dropped by 18% in August this year compared to the same month in 2015, reaching EUR 599 million. The drop is worrying, as the trend has maintained for several months now despite the extremely low interest rates. The financing in lei, which represents about 80% of the total new loans granted to companies, dropped by 7% in August 2016 compared to August 2015. Banks granted local companies loans in lei worth RON 2 billion (EUR 448 million) in August. “At aggregate level, the economic results and the financial health of non-financial companies have continued to improve in the last years, with firms having higher financial resources generated by the internal activity,” said Florian Neagu, deputy director of the Financial Stability Department within Romania’s National Bank (BNR), cited by local Ziarul Financiar. This has allowed them to cover their financing need without using bank loans so often. editor@romania-insider.com