Economic analyst Dragos Cabat says a more substantial increase in lending ahead of winter holidays is possible, as people use to buy more during such periods, and the data from that period will be a signal for the trend of consumer lending in 2015.
July was the first month of annual growth for RON lending after the stock of consumer loans had declined for five years. Monthly increases were registered starting March. Thus, from the low reached at the beginning of the year, the stock of consumer loans added RON600 million.
As regards foreign currency-denominated consumer loans, these went down by around 16% in September against the same month of 2013 and the monthly trend was still a negative one.
Overall, lending is still in negative territory. New loans, mostly RON-denominated ones, are not enough to offset the deteriorating foreign currency loan portfolios.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)