The average monthly volume of consumer loans in Romania increased by 11.4% y\/y in January-August this year compared to 2024, after a sharp 63% y\/y surge last year, according to data from the National Bank of Romania (BNR).<\/p>\n
The slowdown, visible in the mortgage lending as well (although the refinancing obscures the volume of new mortgage loans), has a direct impact on the dynamics of private consumption: the retail sales increased by 8.6% y\/y in 2024, driven by 14.8% surge in the sales of non-food goods, but they slowed down to 3.5% y\/y in Q1 this year, 1.9% y\/y in Q2 and 0.6% y\/y in July-August.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The growth rates for non-food goods remain superior to averages, but they followed the same downward pattern.<\/p>\n
Separately, the corporate lending measured by the volume of new loans increased by 6.0% y\/y in January-August this year, roughly in line with the 5.8% y\/y rise in 2024 \u2013 a pace that is inferior to inflation.<\/p>\n