National Bank: Non-governmental loans down 1.1% in the first month of 2013 in Romania

Romania’s non-governmental loans totaled EUR 51.9 billion at the end of January 2013 , down 1.1 percent compared to December 2012, but up 0.3 percent over the same month last year, according to data from the Central Bank (BNR). The government credit had a month-on-month decrease of 2.7 percent in January this year, to EUR 17.8 billion, while compared to the same period last year, it went up 4.3 percent. Loans in RON went down 0.1 percent month-on-month at the end of January this year, but up 4.8 percent over the same period in 2012. Loans in foreign currency also recorded a month-on-month decrease of 0.6 percent when expressed in EUR in January 2013, and a year-on-year decrease of 3.1 percent. The RON-denominated non-governmental loans went up 0.1 percent on the corporate side in January 2013 compared to December 2012, and 9.7 percent over the same period a year ago, while recording a month-on-month decrease of 0.5 percent in households. Both corporate and household loans decreased for forex-denominated non-governmental loans, according to BNR. The deposits of non-governmental resident customers went down 0.8 percent in January this year over the previous month, to some EUR 45.5 billion. The resident's deposits in RON posted a month-on-month decrease of 1.3 percent, while dropping 1.9 percent over January 2012. The forex-denominated deposits increased 0.2 percent in January 2013 over the previous month. Compared to the same period last year, the growth was 16.3 percent. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)