State guarantee ceiling upped for Romania's First House lending program

The state – backed lending program The First House will receive an extra EUR 90 million in state guarantees, which were re-allotted from other programs where there wasn’t enough demand, according to Public Finance Minister Ioana Petrescu. The re-allotted funds come from the program to support priority projects for Romania’s economy, which did not have enough demand. Meanwhile, the First House lending program continues to be popular, with about 140 guarantee requests a day. This is the second time the Government increases the guarantee ceiling for this program, by a similar amount. The Guarantees Fund signed about 17,400 guarantee contracts this year, with an average financing amounting to some EUR 36,000. The First House program allows Romanians to take mortgage loans for their first housing units, and the loans are backed by the state. editor@romania-insider.com