The still low volume of loans compared with deposits shows there is room for an increase in lending and the lenders have both the capital and necessary liquidity to fund the recovery of the economy from the coronavirus crisis.
Deposits went up 2.6 times faster than loans in 2020.
The lending growth rate remains modest, some 5%, the lowest in four years.
Total lending was 5.5% higher in December 2020 compared with the end of 2019. Average private lending growth in 2020 slowed down to 5.1%, below the 2019 average rate, 7.6%, while the volume of loans stood at RON282.4 billion at the end of last year, Romania’s central bank data show.
Deposits were 14.4% higher in December than at the end of 2019, having reached RON420.8 billion. The average growth rate of deposits in 2020 was 13.4% year-on-year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)