“Bankers returned to their first love – «the consumer loan». Consumer lending will continue to register an important growth and can even reach 20% on an annualized basis. This is an alarming growth as it occurs on the backdrop of a slowdown in granting loans through governmental programs, and the increase of the indebtedness level is highly above the economic growth,” Cabat stated.
According to the analyst, the central bank should not ignore the recent evolution of the consumer lending.
“The central bank should be concerned about the consumer lending evolution. An important growth of the consumer lending represents a faster way to extensive macroeconomic imbalances,” Cabat stated.
The stock of leu-denominated consumer loans granted to households reached a new record high in May 2016, to RON34.5 billion, up 10% on the year, according to central bank data. The stock of foreign-currency consumer loans fell by 23% to RON18.9 billion.