According to the central bank data, household loans were blocked in January to the level of December 2008.
According to bank representatives, the freezing of lending as of last October was triggered, among others, by the liquidity shortage on the financial market, the decrease of individuals’ applications and the lack of confidence in corporations’ business plans in the light of the financial crisis.
Both consumer and real estate loans in local currency reported slight falls in January, of 0.91%, at 37.55 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2817), and of 0.01%, at RON1.64 billion, respectively.
Consumer and real estate loans in foreign currency, expressed in lei, rose 6.8% and 7.5%, respectively, on the month in January, at RON38.43 billion and RON20.79 billion.
If taking into account the 7.33% depreciation of the leu against the euro in January, then consumer loans in foreign currency have slightly dropped, while real estate loans registered a slight increase.
The depreciation of the leu triggered a 2.85% increase of the value of household consumer loans on the month in January, at RON75.98 billion, while real estate loans rose 6.9%, at RON22.44 billion.
In January, the value of total household loans, in foreign and local currency, rose 3.8%, at RON103.3 billion while the value of companies loans rose 4.73% at RON 99.62 billion.