Bulgaria’s non-govt borrowing up 14% y/y in Aug

Sofia: Loans to Bulgaria’s non-government sector grew by 14.1% year-on-year to some 98.4 billion levs ($56.2 billion/50.3 billion euro) in August, after climbing by an annual 13.9% in July, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The value of non-government loans at the end of August was equivalent to 50.2% of Bulgaria’s gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2024, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a monthly monetary statistics report.

Loans granted to non-financial corporations went up 9.5% on the year to some 46.6 billion levs last month, following an annual rise of 8.7% in July.

At the same time, loans granted to financial corporations increased by 12.4% to 8.03 billion levs in annual terms, slowing from a 16.7% growth rate recorded in July.

Household loans reached some 43.7 billion levs at the end of August, up 19.7% year-on-year. The value of household loans was equivalent to 22.3% of the GDP projected for 2024, the BNB added.

Out of the total household loans, those for house purchases jumped by a yearly 25.5% to 23.2 billion levs, while consumer loans added 14.7% to some 18.8 billion levs.