lending

Consumer lending in Romania is growing at such a fast pace that it entails high risks for banks and macroeconomic stability, Romanian central bank governor Mugur Isarescu said Friday in a seminar.

Romania’s fast-growing household lending will continue to rise over the next two years, but at a slower pace due to tighter bank lending rules, Radu Ghetea, president of the Romanian bankers' association, said Tuesday.

The banks on the Romanian market expect a tightening of the lending conditions in the following period for companies and population, the head of financial stability department within the central bank Ion Dragulin said on Wednesday.

Romanian private lending rose 53.1% on the year in March in real terms to 164.6 billion lei ($68.5 billion), due to higher loans in both leu and foreign currencies, the country’s central bank said Wednesday.

Banks will start focusing more and more on funding small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, as the retail lending market will reach saturation, the head of the Romanian banking association ARB, Radu Gratian Ghetea, said Tuesday.