Romanians are banks’ net lenders again

After more than a year of crisis, Romanians have become net lenders of the banking system again, with deposits accounting for almost 101 billion RON (24 billion euros) at the end of April, while loans taken from banks stood at 99.2 billion RON (23.6 billion euros).

The net lender position of the population became visible in March, after deposits had gone up constantly over the last twelve months, while loans had gone down for several months.

The population was the worst affected by the lending freeze, with loans in RON taken by individuals going down by 5.4% according to April figures, to 37.8 million RON. The volume of loans in foreign currency taken out by individual customers went up by merely 2% since last April, compared with 5.1% in the case of companies.

Romanians’ deposits, however, are 8.7% lower than last year.

On the other hand, uncertainties about economic rebound discourage clients from taking out loans, despite the ongoing promotional campaigns conducted by several banks targeting mainly consumer loans in domestic currency.