In the future, lending to households should increase tenfold - expert
Kyiv • UNN
Economist Oleksandr Okhrimenko believes that the volume of lending to the population of Ukraine should increase significantly to bring it closer to European standards. Currently, Ukraine ranks last in Europe in terms of the ratio of loans to households to GDP.
The population of Ukraine receives few loans. To get closer to European standards, lending should increase tenfold. This opinion was expressed by economic expert Oleksandr Okhrimenko in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
At the moment, the total volume of loans to Ukrainians has partially increased. But these are primarily consumer loans. We have about 90% of all loans to households that are consumer loans... There is an indicator of the amount of loans to households to GDP. Ukraine ranks last in Europe. We have very few loans to households. If we want to be a European country, we need to increase lending to the population tenfold. But this is for the future
He clarified that consumer loans are usually loans issued by banks to a payment card. Of course, the interest on such loans is not small - from 36% per annum.
In addition, according to Okhrimenko, mortgage lending is now active - UAH 2 billion of new mortgages were issued in 6 months of 2024. According to the economist, this is very little, but compared to last year, it is a great success, as in 2023, mortgage loans were issued for only UAH 500 million. Okhrimenko explained that in order to say that the mortgage market in Ukraine is working, the volume of mortgage lending should reach UAH 200 billion.
"We have a very big problem - there are many people who want to get mortgages, but the interest rates are quite high. And preferential mortgage loans at 3% and 7% per annum in hryvnia are not given to everyone, let's say, and only if the mortgage loan has been approved by the Ministry of Finance. That's why such loans are being issued today, but only a few of them," Okhrimenko explained.
Recall
Olena Sosiedka , co-founder of Ukraine's first fintech ecosystem Concord Fintech Solutions, previously told UNN what to look for to protect yourself from losing money when taking out a loan from a bank. In addition, the expert gave advice on how to prevent the risks associated with obtaining a loan and choose the right bank to take out a loan.
