The number of persons who say that they have debts decreased, but the number of those who owe money to at least two sources grew significantly. The persons who borrowed money from three sources are in a dangerous situation, said economist Veaceslav Ioniță, expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”, IPN reports.

In May, the number of persons whom said that they have debts declined from 28.9% to 25%. The largest number of people said they borrowed money from banks and, in descending order, from nonbank institutions, relatives and friends. Only a small percentage borrowed money from pawnbrokers. Last year the Moldovans borrowed officially almost 700 million lei a month. Currently, the value of debts rises by 325 million lei a month. The Moldovans raised loans totaling 33 billion lei and 23.8 billion lei of this amount was borrowed from the banking sector, while 9.2 billion lei from the nonbanking sector.

According to Veaceslav Ioniță, the situation of those who have debts and cannot repay them has worsened. In May, 30.3% of those who borrowed money had problems with debt repayment. “Owing to the crisis, we have witnessed a situation when the people are afraid to raise loans, while those who took out loans experience serious difficulties in repaying them,” stated Veaceslav Ioniță.

He said the persons who borrowed money from three sources are in a critical situation. About 55,600 citizens owe money to three sources. “The repayment of debts to pawnbrokers is the biggest difficulty. 43.8% of those with debts said this. 22.8% said they meet with difficulties in repaying the debts to relatives and friends, 21.3% to the nonbanking sector, while 12.9% to banks,” noted the expert.

Over the first four months of 2022, the Moldovans raised loans totaling almost 1.3 billion lei from banks and nonbank institutions. The total value of loans is 33 billion lei.