Bankers have already bid adieu to 1.7bn-euro loans

The woes of firms facing plunging sales and of people seeing their incomes shrink are starting to be reflected in banks' balance sheets as well: sums more than 90 days overdue, and with little chance of being recovered, leapt by 11% in March alone, hitting 7.1bn RON (1.7bn euros). "This is the crisis fallout. The real economy is faring ever worse as no concrete supportive step has been taken, and this is reflected in the provisions banks are setting up. Moreover, some economic operators are protecting themselves from creditors by filing for insolvency," says Iuliu Muresan, vice-president in charge of risk management at Bank Leumi, a small player in the system. He says most companies are having cash problems, after having seen their sales dive. Sums overdue more than 90 days have climbed by more than three times in the past year, from 2bn RON (0.5bn euros) in March 2009. Bankers can practically kiss this money goodbye and the NBR forces them to consider there is little chance to get back the rest of the money they have to recoup from the respective clients.