November 15 (SeeNews) - The ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Serbia's banking sector fell to 4.7% at the end of September from 4.98% in July, central bank governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said.
"The lending structure supports the sustainable economic growth, as evidenced by a significant rise in corporate investment loans and a rebound in housing loans, with a slight deceleration in the growth of consumer loans," Tabakovic said in remarks at the presentation of the National Bank of Serbia's October inflation report published on the bank's website.
Lending has recorded two-digit year-on-year growth rates, loans have a stable share of the gross domestic product (GDP), posing no risk to prices or financial stability, Tabakovic said.
The central bank started to regularly monitor NPLs in 2008. After a temporary decrease in the second half of 2012, NPLs rose again in 2013 and continued to grow in 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. At the end of April 2015, NPLs in the Serbian banking sector reached 442.6 billion dinars ($4.2 billion/3.8 billion euro), or 23% of total loans.
(1 euro = 117.673 dinars)