In the first half of this year, the number of loans issued to individuals in Latvia increased by 27% compared to the same period last year. This was reported by the Credit Information Bureau, citing data collected from members of the Financial Industry Association. Such information is published by the Latvian media.
The total amount of loans issued to individuals increased by almost 5% over the same period. The biggest growth is in home loans, credit cards and student loans. In the first six months of 2024, credit institutions entered into almost 80,000 loan agreements, which was a record for the last five years. For comparison, about 63,000 contracts were concluded in the first half of 2023, and just under 60,000 in 2022. The number of borrowers also increased by 23.3% – from almost 60,000 in the first half of last year to more than 74,000 this year year.
Executive Director of the Credit Information Bureau Intars Mikelsons noted that from the beginning of 2022 to mid-2023 there was a sharp increase in the EURIBOR rate, which contributed to a significant increase in the cost of loans. However, then the rate began to gradually decrease, which stimulated lending growth. According to him, many clients took a wait-and-see approach and, seeing positive trends in the market, decided to take out loans.
The data shows that in the first half of this year, home loan signings increased by 28%, credit cards by 26% and student loans by 24%. The number of consumer loans increased by 4.4%.
Despite the sharp increase in the number of loan agreements, the total amount of loans issued increased by only 4.5%. I. Mickelson also noted that the number of mortgage contracts signed in the first half of this year was the highest in the last five years, but the total amount did not reach the levels of 2021 and 2022.
Source: www.gorod.lv
