NON- PERFORMING LOANS IN THE BANKING SYSTEMS OF SERBIA, CROATIA AND MACEDONIA: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the level of NPL loans in banking systems of the three sample Balkan countries. The special attention is dedicated to the level of NPL loans and their ratio compare to total loans. The quality of credit portfolio is important determinant in future bank strategies, thereby it’s important for the economic development of the whole country. The NPL loans affect the economic development through the credit activity which influence on the consumption and the capital adequacy ratio which constrain the possibility of growth. Thus creating a spiral and higher NPL ratio create low economic growth and low growth creates further NPL portfolio. In this paper analysis will be focused to compare the data of quality of credit portfolio in Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia. The comparative analysis will outline the differences in the quality of the portfolios in sample countries as well as the reasons for the differences. The reasons for higher resilience of some banking systems portfolios compared to others can be used as a valuable tool for enhancing the stability of the banking systems. These three countries are chosen because they had high credit growth in the past until the financial crises, they were affected by the crisis in the same time and their banking systems are dominantly owned by foreign banks