Lending speeds up again, driven by foreign currency funding

Non-governmental lending gained speed again in June, from an annual growth pace of 25.9% in real terms in May to a peak of 27%, which had not been reached since last autumn. The main growth engine was still foreign-currency lending, which has kept the same fast pace of 61.4%, relatively constant as compared to the 61.2% it had registered in the previous month.

All the restrictive measures NBR has taken seem to have lost the power to temper the surge in lending, amid banks” strife for higher and higher shares of the retail market.

This also accounts for the fact that the central bank got to the conclusion that it is only a brutal move such as the further raising of foreign currency-denominated minimal compulsory reserves that can put a brake on the advance of foreign currency lending. After a slump last August, the volume of foreign currency lending has been constantly increasing, gaining momentum from month to month.

RON-denominated lending slowly rebounded, too, amid interests” drop, which has brought it to a growth pace of almost 22% in real terms.

Non-governmental lending rose, during June 2005-June 2004 period, by 39.3%, in nominal terms, with loans granted in foreign currency continuing to be more dynamic than RON-denominated ones, according to the data released by the National Bank of Romania. The volume of foreign currency-denominated loans granted by commercial banks progressed during this time interval by 43.2%, being the main drive of non-governmental lending growth, while the RON-denominated component climbed by 33.7%.