BNB Measures to Tame Crediting

Bulgaria's National Bank (BNB) will implement new measures to limit the credit growth in the country. Because of the increasing credit growth in the country BNB voted on Thursday some reforms into the regulations for the banks minimal reserves. The newly adopted measures aim to unify the amount of the minimal bank reserves to 8% for all kinds of debt capital of the deposit base of the commercial banks. The new measures will be valid as of December 6, 2004. The upward tendency in crediting in Bulgaria remained unchanged over the few months, BNB data shows. In October alone crediting in Bulgaria went up by BNG 420 M. The survey also shows that private sector crediting also kept its rising tendency for a 27th month in a row. An October survey of Bank Austria Creditanstalt showed that Bulgaria took the lead in credit growth among countries in Central and East Europe, according to a survey. Over the last three years, bank credits in Bulgaria marked a 49% increase. Meanwhile, the average percentage for CEE was 15%.