Lending ends 2003 with 6% December jump

The year 2003 is very likely to be remembered in Romania’s recent financial history as the year when corporate and consumer lending took off with a blast. The final statistics of the National Bank of Romania (NBR) point to a nearly 70% nominal growth pace, given that December actually witnessed a surge in consumer lending, partly induced by the announcements of upcoming administrative restrictions in this regard. Which is why the banks at the end of last year had boosted their non-governmental credit portfolio to 305,000bn ROL. About one quarter of this amount is made up of the loans taken out by individuals, especially for car and durable goods purchases, the NBR data used by Mediafax show. In real terms, non-governmental lending went up 48.8% in 2003, twice the level deemed by the IMF as sustainable and risk free. After a slight slowdown in November, when the monthly lending speed had fallen to 4.5%, the borrowing frenzy led to a 6% growth in December, largely fuelled by the consumer appetite for credits. ZF