The private debts did not undergo a significant change in the last month, thus continuing the trend of stagnation typical of recent months, Secretary General of the Association of Serbian Banks Veroljub Dugalic said on Tuesday.

At a press conference, Dugalic said in nominal terms, both companies and citizens saw a slight rise in indebtedness. However, taking into account the effects of inflation, it remained at the same level.

He specified that the amount of newly granted loans equals the amount of payments for loans that had been taken out earlier so, all in all, there was no significant change.

According to the data of the Association of Serbian Banks, at the end of April, personal debts stood at RSD 2,029, 6 billion, and were 1 percent up on March. (EUR 1 = RSD 112).

Citizens' borrowings stood at RSD 577.32 billion, reflecting an increase of 0.9 percent, especially in cash, housing and agricultural loans, while there was a drop in consumer and refinancing loans.

When it comes to delay in payments, companies reduced it from 15 percent in March to 14.8 percent in April, while citizens kept it at the same level - 3.9 percent.