The stock of loans granted by Romanian banks to households and businesses (non-government loans) was 8.4% higher (4.9% in real terms) in January 2019 compared to the same month last year, at RON 252.2 billion (EUR 53.26 billion).

The annual increase accelerated compared to December 2018, according to Romania's National Bank (BNR) data, published on February 25. In December 2018, the volume of loans to households and firms increased by 7.9% (4.5% in real terms) compared to the same month of the previous year.

In January, compared to the same month last year, the stock of loans denominated in local currency to the population increased by 18.9% to RON 95.94 billion (EUR 20.41 billion). At the same time, the stock of local currency loans to companies advanced by 5.4% in January to RON 69 billion (EUR 14.68 billion). Meanwhile, the loans in foreign currency to both population and firms advanced at a much lower annual rate (0.9%), to RON 87.2 billion (EUR 18.5 billion).

The stock of loans to Government rose 10.6% (7% in real terms) year-on-year to RON 104.92 billion (EUR 22.32 billion) at the end of January.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Pexels.com)