The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) announced that by September 15, 2025, banks must offer special loans for employees with monthly incomes up to 100,000 dinars and pensioners.
Key features of the program:
- Cash and consumer loans in dinars up to 1,000,000 dinars: Interest rates must be 3 percentage points lower than each bank’s average previous rate, with a minimum of 7.5%.
- Refinancing existing loans: Citizens can replace higher-interest loans with cheaper ones. No limit on loan amount; interest rates are 3 percentage points lower than the bank’s previous average, with a floor of 7.5%. Pensioners can borrow up to 1,000,000 dinars with a minimum rate of 10.5%.
- Mortgage loans for first-time homebuyers: Employees with incomes under 100,000 dinars can access loans with rates up to 0.5 percentage points lower than standard mortgage offers.
Other conditions:
- No processing fees for these special loans.
- Banks must maintain these offers for at least 12 months.
- Current cash loan rates in Serbia range from 7.5% to 12.1%, meaning some borrowers could see rates drop significantly under the new scheme.
Regional comparison:
- Serbia’s new rates would place cash loans in the mid-range regionally, with Hungary (10–15%), Romania (~10%), Czech Republic (8%), and Poland (~8.7%).
- Mortgage rates in Serbia average 4.34%, below the NBS ceiling of 5%. Neighboring countries like Romania, Hungary, and Poland have higher mortgage rates, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Croatia offer lower rates (2.75–3.8%).
Purpose:
The program aims to make loans more affordable for low-income earners and pensioners, helping them access cash, consumer, and housing loans at lower rates, and potentially refinance existing high-interest loans.
