April 23 (SeeNews) - Loans to Bulgaria's non-government sector rose by an annual 12.9% to some 92.7 billion levs ($50.4 billion/47.4 billion euro) in March, after growing by 12.9% year-on-year in February, the central bank said on Tuesday.
The value of non-government loans at the end of March was equivalent to 46.8% of Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2024, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a monthly monetary statistics report.
Loans granted to non-financial corporations climbed by 8.2% on the year to a little over 45 billion levs last month, following an annual increase of 8% in February.
At the same time, loans granted to financial corporations added 19.5% to 7.62 billion levs in annual terms, decelerating from a 23.1% growth rate recorded in February.
Household loans reached some 40.1 billion levs at the end of March, up by 17.5% year-on-year. The value of household loans was equivalent to 20.2% of the GDP projected for 2024, the BNB added.
Out of the total household loans, those for house purchases advanced by a yearly 22.7% to 20.9 billion levs, while consumer loans went up by 13.2% to some 17.4 billion levs.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)