Banks grant new loans amounting to 84 billion lei in 2020, one third of balance of non-government credit

The new loans extended by Romanian banks to the population and companies, which amounted to 84 billion lei last year, a year marked by the COVID 19 health crisis, are slightly above the level of new loans accessed in 2019 and holds a share of almost one third in the balance of non-government credit, according to the Romanian Association of Banks (ARB). The new loans accessed by the non-governmental segment totaled 83.24 billion lei in 2019. In 2020, the population accessed new loans amounting to 35.45 billion lei, the share in the total new loans being 42.3%. The volume of new loans for house purchase was higher compared to 2019. The distribution by currencies shows that the population accessed almost only loans in lei, in proportion of 98.4%, leading to the elimination of the foreign currency risk. Last year, the companies contracted loans worth 48.45 billion lei, the lending activity being supported by the government programs that were carried out. The companies mainly accessed new loans in lei, in proportion of 70% of the total loans, the rest being loans contracted in euros and dollars. The distribution by currency of the loans granted last year shows that, out of the total of 84 billion lei, 81.66% represent the value of RON-denominated loans, 15% is the share of loans in euros and the rest in dollars. As regards euro loans, 95.5% of last year's total value was contracted by legal entities. The new loans in dollars granted in 2020, amounting to 2.8 billion lei equivalent, represent 3.30% of the total loans newly accessed, being contracted by legal entities.AGERPRES(RO - author: George Banciulea, editor: Nicoleta Gherasi; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)