The growth of overdue loans slowed in March

In March, the corporate and household loan and leasing stock increased by 2.6 billion kroons. The annual growth rate declined from 27% to 25%. The volume of loans added during the first three months of 2008 was 50% smaller year-on-year and remained also below the growth observed at the beginning of 2006. Next months should also witness more moderate loan growth. The financing of manufacturing companies has increased faster then the corporate sector average, though loan volume growth remained considerably more modest month-on-month.

Figure 1. Quarterly growth of corporate and household deposits and loan stock in Estonia (EEK million)

The growth of overdue loans slowed in March. The share of loans overdue for over 60 days formed 0.93% of banks’ loan portfolio, which was just 0.03 pp more than last month. On an aggregate basis, positive developments could be observed in the quality of housing loans, where the volume of long overdue loans decreased by about 11%. However, the changes in the quality of hosing loans differed across banks. Although the quality of corporate loans and household consumer credit continued to deteriorate slightly in March, no loan segment has manifested loan servicing problems in the scope that might hinder the smooth economic adjustment or create problems in the financial sector.

The withdrawal of the impact of last year’s low comparison basis brought along a sharp decline in the annual growth of deposits, from the 14% a month ago to 10% at the end of March. Whereas the volume of corporate deposits decreased in March, no new trends could be seen in household deposits: the growth of time deposits and the decrease in demand deposits continued at a steady pace. The share of time, saving and investment deposits rose 1 pp in March, constituting 51% of household deposits by the end of March.

Figure 2. The annual growth of household and corporate loans and leases in Estonia

The profitability of banks has remained strong under the changed economic conditions. In the first quarter of 2008, the net profits of the banks registered in Estonia and of the branches of foreign banks operating in Estonia reached 981 million kroons. On an aggregate basis, the past four quarters’ average return on equity of banks exceeded 27%.

Jana Kask, Head of the Financial Sector Policy Division of Eesti Pank

Source: Eesti Pank PRESS RELEASE