Loans to the economy stagnated in May (down 0.01 percent) compared to April, while loans to households increased by 2.5 percent, according to data from the Association of Serbian Banks.
Compared to May of last year, credit growth was four percent thanks to loans to citizens. Lending to the economy increased in one year by only 1.5 percent, while the amount of loans to households increased by 7.6 percent.
When it comes to the population, the growth of cash loans slowed down considerably and compared to May 2022, it amounted to only 5.3 percent. However, a high growth of three percent of cash loans was recorded in May alone, more than half of the growth in the last 12 months.
At the same time, housing and renovation loans increased by 13.3 percent. Also, a significant growth of 33.4 percent was recorded in the so-called other loans, which mostly refer to loans for refinancing existing obligations. In May compared to April, these loans recorded a jump of as much as 43.3 percent. On the other hand, their amount is about fifteen times smaller than the amount of housing or cash loans.
In the same period, consumer loans fell by 25 percent, and agricultural loans by 18 percent.
Despite the rise in interest rates, loan defaults are still very low. In the case of citizens, these are unpaid obligations for more than 60 days and amounted to only 2.4 percent. In the case of the economy, arrears refer to delays in repayment of loans longer than 15 days and amounted to three percent.
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