Retail loans, on the other hand, were slower to increase, 9.3%, reaching RON121.8 billion.
Foreign currency corporate loans returned to positive territory and increased by 1.1% year-on-year to RON56.3 billion in March. Foreign currency loans for individual customers dropped 9.8% to almost RON30.5 billion.
Corporate lending saw a rebound in the second half of 2020, following the introduction of the IMM Invest (SME Invest) program. Companies took out RON45.6 billion worth of new leu and euro loans in 2020, 5.6% more than in 2019, and December 2020 saw the monthly peak of the last 14 years, RON4.7 billion.
Private lending, both retail and corporate, saw a 6.6% rebound in March compared with year-ago month, after having progressed slower, at a rate of about 5% in the first two months.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)