People in Slovakia tend to get into debt rather quickly, especially in the pre-Christmas period, stated representatives of the Slovak central bank (NBS) at a news conference in Bratislava on Tuesday. Many Slovaks take out consumer loans just before Christmas in order to provide themselves with everything they feel they need for the holiday period. However, they might not be cautious enough when signing contracts for such loans.
"Caution is weakened during the Christmas period, and as we find ourselves experiencing good times during this period, no one thinks that these good times could be replaced by rainy days when consumers won't be able to pay off their loans," said Vladimír Dvořáček, Executive Director of the Slovak National Bank's (NBS) Market Supervision Unit. Dvořáček stated that the volume of consumer loans has been steadily increasing over the past few years. While in 2008 unpaid loans amounted to some €2 billion, nowadays the figure stands at €6 billion. At the same time, according to data recorded in September of this year, bank consumer loans reached a growth of 14.1-percent - the second fastest growth in the EU.
According to Dvořáček, household indebtedness in Slovakia is increasing. NBS warns that Slovak households lack the financial assets of the comparable population of the Eurozone. "In the case of rainy days, Slovak households are much more vulnerable than households with higher financial assets," said Dvořáček. In this context, the central bank is planning to present draft measures in the field of consumer loans, as it was the case with housing loans.
