Banker: Half Bulgarians Live on Credit

More than half of the Bulgarians live on credit, according to Levon Hampartsumyan, CEO of UniCredit BulBank.

In his words, the interest rates do not increase or drop "by the will of some good or bad people", but on the basis of the market conditions in the world and in Bulgaria.

In an interview for the Bulgarian private TV channel bTV on Wednesday, Hampartsumyan did not state specific data on how many people in Bulgaria live on credit. However, he noted that allegations that interests in Bulgaria are the highest in the EU were stated only by people who believe "populist statements" of politicians.

"Interest rates in Bulgaria are comparable and sometimes lower than some neighboring countries," he said, giving Romania as an example.

The renowned banker commented on cases of apartments up for sale because of owners' debts to banks. He said that this is a result of the pre-recession optimism of both banks and customers.

"There are 32 banks on the market with different policies. Some have been aggressive by giving easy credits, but anyway, it was the customer's ultimate responsibility for the decision which loan to take and how to organize it," Hampartsumyan said.

According to him, there is not an agreement between banks and people from the private judicial enforcement for selling apartments at low costs to particular buyers.

He has explained that the standard procedure provides an opportunity to customers to sell their apartments alone.

"The real estate market is not doing well right now. It is 30-40-50% lower, compared to the period of boom before 2008. Then the recession came and the market collapsed," he said.

In his words, when the value of the collateral falls below the loan amount, this is a sign of a real crisis in construction and residential property prices. However, Hampartsumyan said this is not a popular phenomenon.

According to the banker, the proposal for a law, which would enable individuals to declare bankruptcy, will create "artificial bankruptcies".

"In many countries this means that people who have declared bankruptcy can never again take a loan. Banks only follow success, they do not create it," Hampartsumyan said.

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