Non-performing loans account for 18.6 percent of all loans

At the end of 2012 non-performing loans (NPL's) in the banking sector stood at a total of RSD 367.1 billion, thus accounting for 18.6 percent of all approved loans, Branislava Zunjic, secretary of the Banking and Insurance Board of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC), told Tanjug news agency.

The share of the NPL's extended to the economy sector in the total amount of approved loans in that period was reduced from 23.7 to 19.5 percent with a major portion of the non-performing loans granted to companies operating in the mining, processing, trade and construction industries.

She reminded that the share of the NPL's extended to physical persons had been below the average and amounted to 8.6 percent at the end of December 2012.

Zunjic explained that there were many ways to solve the problem of NPL's, adding that the primary thing was to launch economic activity.