The country’s trade activity continues to ensure the majority of sales, and to record significant annual growth rates. It is estimated that construction sector has performed almost at the same level with that of the previous year. Direct and indirect indexes of this sector impose the necessity for a  BIS Review 80/2007  1  broader attention, particularly to a better allocation of private or public financial resources. Construction developments over the recent years, and particularly the extreme concentration of constructions on certain territories, prove the lack of efficient urban development policies, without guaranteeing long-term sustainability of the branch. Furthermore, construction continues to be dominated by housing buildings, lagging behind other strategic items, such as investments in road infrastructure, in industrial constructions, in land improvement and in agricultural infrastructure, as well as other investments directly related to the standard of living of small urban and rural communities. Agricultural production during 2006 partly recovered the growth rate decline noticed in 2005. The sector growth projection stands at 2.5 per cent for 2006, higher than the growth of 2005, but lower than the average growth rate noticed over five latest years. Investments in agricultural sector and financing by the banking system will increase in accordance with the potential of this branch, providing that hurdles arising from various structural problems are eliminated. Agricultural land is not used at maximum, because of external and internal migration and the problems with ownership titles. The relatively underdeveloped rural infrastructure makes more difficult the emerging of products in the market.

During two latest years, commercial banks have better met the increasing demand for ALL loans, which at end of 2006 constituted 29 percent of the loans portfolio, thus evidencing a moderate extension of its share. 6  BIS Review 80/2007  Corporate credit constitutes the main share of banks’ portfolio, amounting to 66.5 percent of the total at end 2006. In annual terms, corporate credit increased by 52 percent. The credit distribution structure by use has tended to be more uniform in comparison with the previous year. Most of corporate loans (34.5 percent) have been used for purchasing machinery and equipment, while 23.2 percent of corporate loans portfolio has been used for financing investments in activity area expansion. In 2006 the household credit was 7 percent of GDP, or 33.5 percent of the total loans portfolio. More than half of loans to households (59.3 percent) have been extended for financing real estate purchases, while the financing of consumer goods purchases has also increased. The ratio of consumer loans to total household portfolio is 27.3 percent, from 20 percent in the previous year. In particular, consumer loans increased obviously during the summer holidays and during the end-year celebrations. Concerning lending to specific sectors, it should be underlined that trade remains the sector mostly credited by the banking system, by 22.4 percent of the loans portfolio. The growth rate of credit to construction has been inhibited during 2006. This sector presented temporary improvement signs during the summer, then turned back to the downward trend.