Life on credit – BiH everyday life. Credit – debt slavery or problem solving? Citizens are increasingly borrowing to cover basic expenses.
According to data from the Central Bank of BiH at the end of May this year, loans placed with the population amounted to 13.5 billion marks. Non-purpose loans are leading. Experts call for caution and the importance of financial literacy.
Zinka Mujkić is retired and in debt. The minimum pension is insufficient, she says, for a life worthy of a human being.
“Half the minimum pension in credit. You can’t even be a magician anymore.”
Other surveyed citizens confirm this. They borrowed mainly to buy an apartment and cover basic living expenses.
– A loan so they can pay state taxes.
– They took out a housing loan, a mortgage, you can’t do it any other way, how?
These are the data from the Central Bank of BiH – The largest part of loans to citizens of about 13.5 billion marks refers to non-purpose, cash loans, which at the end of May amounted to almost 10 billion, followed by housing, then card operations, and those for entrepreneurship and car purchases.
“Loans to citizens in the Federation grew by about 6 percent compared to the end of 2024 and therefore reached a value of over 10 billion BAM in the context of macroeconomic conditions, inflation, changes in the overall, it was expected that citizens’ loans would change and grow,” explains Amil Nukić, Assistant Director of the Banking Agency of the Federation of BiH.
And there are many reasons why citizens have been reaching for loans more and more often in recent years.
“We have an enormous increase in the prices of energy, food, housing and other things. On the other hand, citizens’ incomes do not follow the dynamics of the growth of these prices and a gap is being created that citizens are trying to fill from consumer loans,” explained Velida Krvavac, representative of the Association of Banks of BiH.
The Association of Banks also states that debt in BiH is much lower than in the countries of the region and Europe. At the same time, deposits are continuously growing.
Citizens have more than 18.3 billion marks in their accounts. While some are taking out loans, others are saving.
“The situation in which citizens find themselves is becoming increasingly dramatic, and at the same time we have an increase in savings in banks, which shows the complete separation of societies in BiH – a small society of the rich who are able to save, buy apartments, weekend houses, luxury cars, and the vast majority of residents, barely managing to survive and cover themselves with their income or are not able to do so either, but survive thanks to remittances from abroad or loans of various kinds,” warns economic expert Igor Gavran.
“The problem is if we take out a loan to patch up the family budget, unfortunately, it seems that more and more people are making ends meet on pfennigs and in this way,” says Aziz Šunje, an economic expert.
Therefore, strategic assistance is needed. It is necessary, the interviewees conclude, to influence the reduction of prices and at the same time work on increasing income and revenue. If you do decide to take out a loan, be careful, Federalna writes.
