November 29 (SeeNews) - Serbia recorded the largest improvement in the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of its banking sectors among 17 countries in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE) in the 12 months to March 2018, according to a report of European Bank Coordination "Vienna" Initiative.
The NPL ratio in Serbia declined by 7.6 percentage points year-on-year at the end of March 2018, with figures demonstrating a steady downward trend of the NPL ratios for all 17 countries reviewed except for Latvia, a NPL Monitor for the CESEE region published by the Vienna Initiative shows.
However, there are still important disparities between countries as evidenced by the range in NPL ratios, from 0.7% to 13.4%, the Vienna Initiative said.
Тhere are only two countries remaining above the 10% threshold in the CESEE (Albania at 13.4% and Croatia at 11.3%).
In the first half of 2018, Romania has continued attracting the highest investor interest in NPL transactions, followed by Bulgaria and Croatia, whilst Macedonia witnessed the first larger NPL sales.
The NPL volume in the CESEE region fell by 16.1% in the 12-month period leading up to March 2018. The average NPL ratio across the CESEE was 4.2%, down 1.8 percentage points on the year.
Details on the NPL profile in SEE countries follow:
|
NPL volume (bln euro) |
NPL ratio |
|
March'18 |
Variation (%, y/y) |
March'18 |
Variation (pp, y/y) |
Albania |
0.6 |
-20.8 |
13.4 |
-4.0 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
0.9 |
-11.0 |
9.7 |
-1.8 |
Bulgaria |
3.9 |
-23.2 |
9.6 |
-3.4 |
Croatia |
3.8 |
-22.8 |
11.3 |
-2.5 |
Kosovo |
0.1 |
-29.0 |
2.9 |
-1.6 |
Macedonia |
0.2 |
-15.4 |
4.9 |
-1.2 |
Montenegro |
0.2 |
-18.2 |
7.4 |
-2.5 |
Romania |
3.8 |
-30.4 |
6.2 |
-3.2 |
Serbia |
1.6 |
-41.2 |
9.2 |
-7.6 |
Slovenia |
0.8 |
-41.6 |
2.7 |
-2.1 |
The Vienna Initiative is a framework for safeguarding the financial stability of emerging Europe. It was launched at the height of the first wave of the global financial crisis in January 2009. It 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 that region.