Construction and agriculture drive lending in March

March lending was driven by construction and agriculture, with the most drastic contraction in bank lending registered by industry companies, according to data centralized by the National Bank of Romania.


Although the heads of banks consider the construction sector to be the most risky economic branch after that of real estate, loans offered in March to construction companies advanced 1.75 percent, or €63 million, compared to February, to RON 15.44 billion (€3.65 bln).

“I cannot say that we fear financing certain activity sectors. If a client comes to us for a loan, I ask if he is eligible, if he is a winner in the midst of the crisis. We consider each client individually. We might decide to reduce exposure in certain industries. On the other hand, it is possible that we will decide to offer greater support to some other industries, which generally have better performance in times of recession or are more resilient,” said Shahmir Khaliq, General Manager of the Romanian branch of Citibank Europe. The bank he heads has zero exposure in the construction sector, as this is a group level policy for emerging markets.

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