An unprecedented 13 billion lei increase in lending to households and enterprises was recorded in Moldova in 2021 against 2020.
Veaceslav Ionita, economic expert of IDIS Viitorul, declares this. He notes that bank loans increased by 10.7 billion lei and non-bank loans - by 2.2 billion lei. The total volume of loans reached almost 70 billion lei: 56.4 billion lei - the volume of bank loans and 12.8 billion lei - non-bank loans. The burden of Moldovan citizens in 2021 increased monthly by more than 1 billion lei. This increase in the debt burden is the largest in the history of our country - 2 times more than in previous years. At the same time, if we consider the volume of loans in the context of GDP, the record was set in 2014, when the volume amounted to 39% of GDP, and in 2021 - 29%. In 2021, most of the bank loans (totaling 3.5 billion lei) were issued for the purchase and construction of real estate. Veaceslav Ioniță drew attention to the fact that almost no loans were issued for business development last year. Lending increased strongly in 2021, but it increased due to lending to households and consumption, and to a lesser extent due to investment. The expert also claims that if in 2011-2012, 60% of loans issued were in foreign currency, after 2017 loans in lei (MDL) prevail. They currently account for about 75%. In 2021, loans issued to economic agents amounted to 4.1 billion, and to individuals - 6.6 billion lei. In 2021, according to the economist, for the first time in the history of the country, net lending to legal entities was negative - minus 700 million lei. The volume of bank deposits belonging to legal entities exceeded the volume of loans taken. Last year, economic agents had 34.2 billion lei in banks in the form of deposits, and the volume of loans issued amounted to 33.5 billion lei. // 24.01.2022 - InfoMarket.
