The Governing Council of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has ordered banks in the country to apply a minimum set of 6 indicators for monitoring credit standards when granting and renegotiating loans secured by residential real estate. The aim is to preserve liquidity buffers in the banking system amidst significant credit growth, particularly in mortgages, BNB said.

The annual growth rate of mortgage loans has increased from 10.1% at the end of 2020 to 19.9% at the end of 2023, reaching a total of EUR 3 billion. Banks have not loosened the regime for granting such loans and should not do so, the central bank's report said. The total amount of deposits at the end of 2023 is EUR 73.5 billion, with the deposit growth for the last four years being more than EUR 25 billion.