However, at an event dedicated to the adoption of the euro during the week, the Association of Banks in Bulgaria announced that the institutions lend wisely and responsibly. “It is clearly visible that the growth of consumer and mortgage loans is comparable to the growth of incomes, as well as to the growth of GDP,” announced the chairman of the association, Petya Dimitrova, quoted by “Dnevnik”.
BNB may tighten lending for citizens after March
He announced that over the past 10 years, the average salary has grown 2.7 times, and the minimum – 3 times, which is more than the growth of consumer and mortgage loans.
From the data presented, it can be seen that mortgage loans have been growing in double digits since 2020, and the association’s forecast is that in 2024 the annual growth of the volume of mortgage loans granted will be 10.7%. In the case of consumers, the forecast is for 8.7%, and in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the growth is double-digit on an annual basis.
“The higher household incomes are sufficient to service most of the loans they have taken,” Petya Dimitrova also pointed out. He also announced that household indebtedness in Bulgaria is lower than the EU average.
Lending continues to grow at a double-digit pace and the cost of bank financing for households has been decreasing since the beginning of the year, according to the monetary and interest statistics of the BNB at the end of February. The bank once again signals that the high credit activity, especially in housing loans, creates “prerequisites for an increase in indebtedness and accumulation of credit risk” in the system.
