The fall months came with a rise in lending to companies, after the visible rebound in the summer, when it regained the ground lost in the spring as a result of the lockdown.
One of the important factors that gave a boost to corporate lending was the government-backed ‘IMM Invest’ (SME Invest) scheme, whereby the Romanian government guarantees about 80% to 90% of the loans funding small businesses via the SME loan insurance fund, depending on the type of company.
Corporate lending in lei was 2.8 times higher than the corporate lending volume in foreign currencies in January-October.
New corporate loans in lei stood at RON26.5 billion in the first ten months, an increase of RON2.8 billion or 11.96% on the year-ago period.
New corporate loans in euros remained low, EUR1.93 billion or RON9.35 billion equivalent in January-October, 26% lower than in January-October 2019.
Looking back over the last 14 years (2007-2020) one can see high levels of corporate lending in lei, though lower than in October 2020, in March 2008 (RON3.75 billion), October 2016 (RON3.71 billion), April 2008 (RON3.69 billion), July 2019 (RON3.59 billion) and September 2020 (RON3.47 billion), Romania’s central bank statistics show.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)