Lending up 7.6% year-on-year in February while Romanian individuals, companies start saving more

Lending was up year-on-year in Romania in February, but the growth in deposits, form both individuals and companies exceeded that in loans. Non-government loans granted by credit institutions went down 0.1 percent in February 2012, compared to the previous month, to some EUR 51 billion (RON 222 billion), while over the same month in 2011 the non-government loans increased 7.6 percent, according to the data from the Romanian Central Bank (BNR). At the end of February 2012, loans in local currency decreased by 0.4 percent over the previous month, while the foreign currency-denominated loans went up 0.1 percent. Non-government loans include household loans and corporate loans. Household loans in the Romanian currency decreased by 1.4 percent compared to February 2011, and by 0.3 percent over January this year, according to BNR. Companies took more loans than individuals. Corporate loans in RON had a year-on-year growth of 9.2 percent, while compared to the previous month, went down 0.5 percent. Romanians preferred loans in foreign currencies in February 2012. As a result, household loans went up 7.9 percent compared to the same month in 2011, while corporate loans - up 11 percent. The volume of deposits of non-government resident customers went up 9.4 percent year-on-year, to some EUR 43 billion (RON 188 billion), according to BNR. Household deposits in RON reported a month-on-month increase of 1.4 percent in February 2012, while compared to the same month in 2011, the increase was 13.6 percent. However, the biggest growth came from corporate deposits in RON, which had a year-on-year increase of 16.9 percent. On month-on-month basis, the corporate loans in local currency went down 0.8 percent. Read more on loans and deposits here. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com