Credit Grabbing Gaining Momentum In Belarus

Belarusians owe banks almost 27 billion rubles.

In a year, consumer loan debt has doubled, and real estate loans have increased by 36%. However, although the pace of providing money to Belarusians remains high, these figures cannot be called critical, economist Anastasia Luzgina told Belsat.

The National Bank calculated that the total credit debt of individuals exceeded 26.7 billion rubles, an increase of 27.6% compared to March last year.

Belarusians were more active in borrowing money for consumer goods than for real estate. Consumer loan debt has doubled, and real estate debt has increased by 36%.

“Banks continue to actively lend to the population, especially for consumer needs,” economist at the BEROC research center Anastasia Luzgina stated in a commentary to Belsat.

“What worries the Belarusian authorities is the active growth of consumer loans. We see that since the beginning of the year, there has been growth in approximately the same volumes as last year. Debt on consumer loans has more than doubled since January of last year. This is a very high figure.”

True, in January and February, Belarusians took out less debt compared to December, but if you compare it with the beginning of last year, the growth is noticeable. For example, in February, individuals took out 49% more consumer loans year-on-year, and twice as many for real estate.

Belarusians are accumulating debt to banks, despite the increase in interest rates on new loans, albeit insignificant.

“The growth of salaries expands the opportunities to take out a loan for a larger amount, and the rates remain acceptable. People continue to take out loans,” says Luzgina.

She noted that the steps taken by the National Bank to tighten monetary policy are very, very cautious, and recently the regulator did not increase the so-called standard risk values, on which credit rates depend. In April, the indicator will remain the same as in March.

At the same time, overdue debt of individuals remains very low, just over 44 million rubles, the Belsat interlocutor emphasized:

“Belarusians are conscientious and responsible. Last year, overdue debt amounted to 0.16% of the total debt, now it is 0.17%. This is very little, so we can say that the population is very responsible about loans and tries to repay them on time. By the way, this has always been the case with us. People do not want to ruin their credit history.”

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