Banks in Serbia have tightened the conditions for issuing loans to the economy in the second quarter, and they expect the same in the next period, show the results of the July survey on credit activity of banks published by the National Bank of Serbia.
Standards have been tightened to a greater extent for loans in foreign currency compared to dinars, and in terms of the size of enterprises, mostly for the segment of micro, small and medium enterprises, which has been hit hardest by the crisis.
The NBS estimates that this speaks in favor of the justification of adopting a comprehensive program of economic assistance, which is primarily intended for this segment of the economy.
The assessment of banks is that companies increased the demand for working capital loans and restructuring of existing liabilities during the second quarter.
On the other hand, banks estimated that the demand of the population for loans has decreased.
Banks expect a moderate tightening of credit standards during the third quarter (but to a lesser extent than in the second), and they believe that this will not affect the demand of the economy and the population for loans, which they expect to grow in the third quarter.
The conditions of the economy will be tightened mostly by increasing the required collateral and reducing the maximum loan amount.
The growth of loans to households will primarily be directed towards dinar cash loans and refinancing loans, and foreign currency-indexed housing and consumer loans, banks expect, Nova Ekonomija reports.
