Total non-government loans granted by credit institutions increased in August by 0.4% month-on-month when expressed in lei, up to 198.68bln lei. However, the annual growth pace weakened to 8.2% from 10.8% a month earlier, according to the monthly bulleting on monetary indicators released by the National Bank of Romania.

This is the first month of growth in total bank lending after five successive months of decline: 2.1% in March, 1% in April, 0.7% in May, 0.5% in June and 0.1% in July.

Leu-denominated loans dropped 0.2% while foreign-currency loans rose 0.8% when expressed in local currency (or +0.6% when expressed in euro).

Year-on-year, the non-government loan climbed 8.2% (3.1% in real terms) on the back of the 18.8% increase in foreign currency-denominated loans expressed in lei and 4.5% reduction in leu-denominated loans.

Government credit dropped 0.6% in August down to 44.7bln lei. However, the government credit stands 293.4% above year-ago levels.

Deposits of non-government resident customers picked up month on month by 1.7% to 161.4 bln lei.