July 6 (SeeNews) - Croatia posted the largest annual decline in the ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) out of 17 countries in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE) in 2022, by 1.4 percentage points (pp) to 4.3%, the European Bank Coordination "Vienna" Initiative said on Thursday.
On average, NPL ratios in the region decreased to 2.3% as of the end of 2022, some 0.4 percentage points down compared with the previous year, according to findings in the latest issue of NPL Monitor published by a subgroup of the Vienna Initiative.
NPL volume in the CESEE declined 10% to 27.4 billion euro ($29.8 million) in 2022. The average NPL coverage ratio in the region increased 1.8 percentage points to 65.2% between December 2021 and December 2022.
Among the SEE countries, the decline in NPL stocks in relative terms was most significant in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they fell 20.8% and 19.1%, respectively.
Kosovo and Montenegro were the only SEE countries where NPL volumes increased in the course of 20222, by 4.4% and 0.8%, respectively.
Details on the NPL profile of ten SEE countries follow:
| |
NPL ratio %, Dec 2022 |
NPL ratio (y/y change, pp) |
NPL volume, Dec 2022 (bln euro) |
NPL volume (y/y change, %) |
| Albania |
4.8 |
-0.6 |
0.3 |
-1.9 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
4.5 |
-1.2 |
0.5 |
-19.1 |
| Bulgaria |
4.6 |
-1.3 |
2.3 |
-9.1 |
| Croatia |
4.3 |
-1.4 |
0.3 |
-20.8 |
| Kosovo |
1.9 |
-0.2 |
0.1 |
4.4 |
| N. Macedonia |
2.8 |
-0.3 |
0.2 |
-1.8 |
| Montenegro |
6.3 |
-0.5 |
0.2 |
0.8 |
| Romania |
2.8 |
-0.5 |
2.5 |
7.7 |
| Serbia |
3.0 |
-0.6 |
0.8 |
8.5 |
| Slovenia |
1.8 |
-0.3 |
0.8 |
10.0 |
| CESEE |
2.3 |
-0.4 |
27.4 |
10.0 |
The Vienna Initiative is a framework for safeguarding the financial stability of emerging Europe co-founded by the EBRD, EIB, the European Commission, IMF and the World Bank. It was launched at the height of the first wave of the global financial crisis in January 2009. The initiative brings together all the relevant public and private sector stakeholders of EU-based cross-border banks active in emerging Europe, which own much of the banking sectors in the region.
($ = 0.918478 euro)