Long-term credits in RON taken out by the population have surged, increasing their volume almost eight times in the last 12 months, to 7.31 billion RON (equivalent to just over 2 billion euros), at the end of May. The quick growth of funding in RON occurred at the expense of lending in foreign currency. In May, funding in RON exceeded foreign currency lending for the first time. The volume of long-term credits granted in foreign currency went up by just 60%, reaching a sum equivalent to 7.28 billion RON (some 2 billion euros). On the other hand, the rapid expansion pace in relative terms was also due to the very low comparative base that was the starting point. The last few months, however, brought a speeding up of the growth pace, even in absolute volumes. The NBR includes under these categories credits granted for periods of time longer than five years. Lately, an increasingly high number of banks have started to extend the maturity of personal loans to close to 10 years, therefore these credits also fall into this category. On the other hand, at the beginning of last year, the banks launched a hybrid product - the home equity loans, which allow for very high-value funding (approaching 100,000 euros) to be granted, with very long maturities of up to 25 years.

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