Private lending in Romania inched up 0.1% (-0.2% in real terms) in January 2023 as compared to December 2022 as local currency lending, holding a 68.9% share, edged up 0.2% and foreign currency lending expressed in lei fell 0.1% (0.4% when expressed in euros).
Household loans in lei increased by 7.3% year-over-year and the total balance in banks reached RON146.8 billion. Instead, household foreign currency loans decreased by 10.5% down to RON24.6 billion.
Of the total balance of loans reported at end-January 2023, RON-denominated loans totaled RON250 billion and foreign currency loans totaled RON113 billion. In January 2023, household loans increased by 6.6% on the year to RON146 billion and foreign currency loans dropped by 11% on the year to RON24 billion versus January 2022. RON-denominated corporate loans grew by 6% to RON104.5 billion and foreign currency loans surged by 40% to RON88 billion.
Government credit inched up 0.6% to RON176 billion in January 2023 compared to December 2022 and climbed 5.1% (-8.6% in real terms) versus January 2022.
Deposits grew by 7.2% (-6.8% in real terms) year-over-year in January 2023, to RON513 billion, with RON-denominated deposits accounting for 66% of the total.
Leu-denominated deposits advanced 10% (-4.3% in real terms) to RON338 billion in January 2023. Of the total amount, household deposits amount to RON179 billion, up 8.4% (-5.8% in real terms) against January 2022.
Foreign currency deposits of resident customers, expressed in lei, accounting for 34.1% of the total volume of deposits of non-government customers, inched down 0.1% versus December 2022, to RON175 billion (expressed in euros, the increase was 0.4% to EUR35.57 billion). Compared to January 2022, the indicator expressed in RON grew by 2.1% (2.6% when expressed in euros).
Foreign currency household deposits, expressed in RON, edged down 0.5% in January 2023 versus December 2022, to RON123 billion (expressed in euros, they inched up 0.02% to EUR25 billion). Compared to January 2022, the increased was 3.1% when expressed in RON (3.6% when expressed in euros).