Households hold over €7.5 billion in domestic banks
Monetary movements report for July shows households’ deposits exceed their loans while businesses rely more on borrowing
Households in North Macedonia hold more money in domestic banks than they owe, according to the National Bank’s monthly monetary movements report for July. Deposits by households exceeded €7.5 billion, while their loans stood at roughly €4.8 billion.
Businesses paint a different picture: corporate deposits were nearly €3 billion, but outstanding corporate loans surpassed €4.8 billion, showing that firms rely more on borrowed funds to finance operations and projects.
Credit structure and currency mix
Almost 60 percent of total deposits are held in the domestic currency, and about two-thirds of loans are denominated in denars; roughly one-third of balances remain in foreign currencies. This currency split is more pronounced among companies, and lending is growing faster than deposits — particularly in the corporate sector.
“Firms most often take loans to finance a specific project and, to a large extent, after receiving the loan they pay those funds to their suppliers, while this is not the case with citizens. Citizens simply save a large part of the funds they have and most often the loans they take are earmarked – whether they are housing or consumer loans,” says economic analyst Aleksandar Talimdzioski.
Despite credit growth, banks in the country remain conservative and do not lend more than their deposit base allows. Non-performing loans remain low: North Macedonia reports under 3 percent non-performing loans, while neighboring countries record figures between 3 and 4.5 percent.
The central bank’s data for July also show that household mortgage and consumer lending increased during the month, while credit-card debt and current-account overdrafts declined.
Photo: press material from the event
