Nongovernmental credit in Romania slips by 1.9% in July over June, to LEI 206.69bn

Lei credits inched 0.2 percent in July over the previous month, to 78.6 billion lei, while those in foreign currency eased 3.2 percent, to 128.09 billion lei, according to BNR.

Foreign currency loans represent 62.17 percent of the total loans. This weight represents one of the vulnerabilities of the local banking system, like many analysts warned repeatedly.

The volume of lei loans granted to the population decreased by 0.5 percent over June, while those in foreign currency reduced 3 percent. For companies, the lei credits added 0.8 percent month-on-month, but those in foreign currency fell 3.5 percent.

Compared to July 2009, the lei credits granted to people reduced 5.3 percent in the seventh month of the year, while the loans in foreign currency advanced 7.9 percent. Companies' lei loans rose 1.9 percent year-on-year in July, while the foreign currency ones hiked 9.2 percent.

The governmental credit rose 4.3 percent in July, to 54.97 billion lei, and remains 22.2 percent (14.1 percent in real terms) above the level reported at the end of July 2009.