Serbian citizen owes around EUR 1,000 on average, less than citizens of neighboring countries

Serbian citizens are currently repaying banking debts worth around EUR 7 billion, amounting to around EUR 1,000 per citizen. The problem is that citizens' cash credits amount to EUR 3.5 billion, equal to the housing loan debts. As the Belgrade office of the World Bank explains, cash loans are more risky, as they are not used for investments, but for spending.

On the other hand, banks say that citizens here owe much less than those in the neighboring countries and the rest of Europe. They note that EUR 7 billion is a fifth of the gross domestic product and that the National Bank has limited the repayment period for cash loans to eight years. They add that the macroeconomic indicators are excellent, that the inflation is low and that the exchange rate is stable. They therefore do not think there is a risk of increased indebtedness.

Zoran Grubisic, a professor at the Belgrade Banking Academy, agrees with this.

– The loans are growing at a dynamic rate, but if the economic growth is stable in the long term and if it is accompanied with an increase in salaries, taking out loans shouldn't be problematic.

Most cash and refinancing credits are dinar credits. The average cash credit is around RSD 400,000.

– Everybody is free to borrow as much as they want to and as much as the bank allows. However, the state needs to send a clear message that contracts must be honored and that there will be no exceptions as in the case of housing loans indexed in Swiss francs. An agreement can only be changed through negotiations between the bank and the client, with the consent of both – economist Ljubomir Madzar notes.

In Croatia, the average debt per citizen has grown to EUR 3,800. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it amounts to EUR 3,000, in Montenegro it is around EUR 2,000, and in Macedonia it is EUR 1,500.

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

Narodna banka Srbije Beograd

BBA-Beogradska Bankarska Akademija

Zoran Grubišić

Ljubomir Madžar

banking credits

banking loans

cash credit

housing credit

dinar credit

refinancing credit

loans indexed in Swiss francs

debt per citizen