In January-May 2021, the total private lending, for households and companies, saw a 10.1% increase compared with the level reported at the end of the first five months in 2020.
At the end of the first quarter of 2021, the Romanian banking system reached approximately RON1.89 billion, up 15% on the year, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Assets peaked at RON574.9 billion, due to lending growing at an average rate of nearly 5.7%, per central bank data. This was the best first-quarter over the last years, compared with a preliminary profit of RON1.65 billion in the first quarter of 2020, a profit of RON1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2019 and a profit of RON1.77 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
The return on assets and the return on equity (ROE) stood at 1.33% and 12.15%, respectively, year-over-year in the first quarter of 2021.
Throughout the whole 2020, lenders’ profit slightly exceeded RON5 billion, below the RON6.3 billion reported in 2019.