Industry and agriculture, eyed by bankers

The energy companies are still the bankers' favorites, however, the companies in industry and agriculture joined the list this spring with the perception on the credit risk improving compared to late 2010, reads a report made by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), reviewed by Ziarul Financiar daily. "According to the banks, the credit risk diminished over the first quarter mainly at the companies operating in the energy sector and, for the first time, for those operating in industry, agriculture and fish farming," reads a BNR report made after a survey conducted in May, whose respondents were the top ten banks from the lending point of view. The black list still includes construction and real estate companies. "The real estate and construction sectors are still in the area of the highest credit risk this quarter," BNR reads. The risk perceived by bankers is yet smaller compared to the previous quarters on all activity sectors. The bankers expect a timid recovery of the credit demand for investments, after the short-term investments, mainly treasury credits or for working capital, had bounced back themselves last year. In parallel, the bankers' perception upon the large-size companies ameliorated, while the SMEs are perceived as high-risk, Ziarul Financiar quotes the BNR report. The companies managed to increase the amount of money borrowed from banks over the past year, both in national and foreign currencies, while the population reduced their debts. The credits in national currency granted to companies went up by 2.5 percent in April up to 43 billion lei (10.5 billion euros), according to the latest data provided by BNR. Compared to last April, the remaining credit amount is 6.6 percent higher. The foreign currency credit reported a minor variation, being constant at an average of 15.6 billion euros. The companies' total debts to banks amount to almost 107 billion lei (26 billion euros), while their deposits are worth 66.5 billion lei (16 billion euros).

Agerpres - ROMANIAN ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS, June 20, 2011, No. 25