Serbian bank lending volume rises 7.7%

Lending volumes continued to grow in the third quarter of 2018 thanks to strong economic growth and favorable movements in the labor markets, according to a study from the Serbian National Bank (NBS). It writes that interest rates continue to run at nearly record lows. The favorable lending conditions are being helped by the ongoing policy of monetary easing, while the fall in the country risk for Serbia has also played a low. The NBS carried out a survey of the country's banks which found that demand for loans is rising and that year-on-year growth in the volume of loans since September 2017 was 7.7 percent. At the same time, the share of loans to GDP is within normal trends meaning the bank sees no risk to financial stability.