Bank loans for companies and the population dropped by 1% to 200.55 billion RON in April this year as compared to the previous month as both the foreign and local currency components shrank, according to Romania's National Bank (BNR) data. The annual page of lending growth slowed down to 18.9%, from 23.1% the previous month.

Credits in lei (RON) dropped 0.5% as compared to a drop of 1.4% for credits in foreign currency by the end of April. Foreign currency loans for the population dropped 1.6% in April, while credits in RON fell 0.2%.