Lending up, despite lack of interest cut

Commercial banks have been delaying cutting down the interest on ROL-denominated loans and yet the volume of consumer loans continued to rise in July, with an alert pace of 3.4% as compared to June, according to preliminary data released by the National Bank of Romania. Within the structure of consumer credits, ROL-denominated credits take up the largest proportion, accounting for over 80%. The average market interest for loans granted to individuals due in 6-12 months stood at 31.5% in June, while credits over 1-5 years carried 29.7% interest, with regard to consumer credit. As compared to the level registered at the beginning of the year, consumer credit, considered to be the primary cause behind the expansion of governmental credit especially since last autumn. At the end of July consumer credit posted an advance of almost 16%, to 63,921 billion ROL. ZF