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| Corporate loan growth slowed in line with economic developments |
| Bratislava, 08.06.2026 |
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| The volume of corporate loans in Slovakia was 3% higher year-on-year in March this year. Compared to the 7% growth at the end of last year, this is a relatively significant drop in credit dynamics. Compared to other European Union (EU) countries, this is also a weaker dynamics and in the ranking of Central and Eastern European countries, it is the slowest growth. This was stated by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) in its current Financial Stability Report.
"The slowdown in credit growth is in line with the weakening economic activity, with this connection being most visible in the case of industry. The decline in sales, production, as well as new orders directly affects the interest of companies in financing," the central bank said.
According to it, the slowdown in lending is present in the industry and commercial real estate sectors, among the key sectors. "The challenging macroeconomic environment also affects the appetite of industrial companies for loans. The weak dynamics of credit growth in industry from 2025 continued in 2026, the volume of loans remained almost unchanged in the first quarter of 2026," the NBS stated.
According to it, some improvement can be seen in the case of investment loans, where the year-on-year decline from 2025 stopped. As of March 2026, the growth of these loans in industry reached 2.5%. Net loan increases in the commercial real estate sector were negative in the first three months of the year. Caution is therefore still present in this area.
According to the NBS, relatively solid credit dynamics continue in the rest of the corporate portfolio, despite a slight slowdown. The year-on-year growth of this part of the portfolio reached 8.2% in March and is driven by services and construction. However, there is also a significant diversity in loan growth among these companies, the central bank warned.
“In terms of company size, micro and large enterprises dominate, except for the group of the ten largest companies, whose year-on-year growth in both cases approached 15%, while small and medium-sized enterprises grew significantly slower,” the NBS calculated. The year-on-year dynamics of loans in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises slowed down from 4.8% in December 2025 to 2.5% in March 2026.
According to the NBS, there are no visible obstacles on the loan supply side that would prevent companies from drawing loans. This is also confirmed by the companies themselves, as according to the survey on access to finance (SAFE) for the first quarter of 2026, the availability of loans remains stable. On the contrary, there are signs of easing credit standards in selected banks. "The average interest rate also remained unchanged. The volume-weighted interest rate on the balance of loans reached 4% as of March 2026," the central bank added.
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Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Tel. : +421 33 53 418 53, Fax : +421 33 53 418 52, E-mail : info@eurobrew.sk |
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