Credit follows profit, not development/ How were new business loans distributed among sectors in 2025?
Bank of Albania data shows that new loans to businesses reached 296.2 billion lek, up from 268.9 billion lek in 2024, marking an annual growth of 10.2%. This is a positive signal for economic activity, but the structure of growth clearly shows that credit is being concentrated in certain sectors, while others are losing ground.
The sector that has benefited the most from the expansion of lending is wholesale and retail trade, including vehicle repair, with a volume of 109.2 billion lek in 2025 and an annual growth of 14.2%. This sector remains the main consumer of bank credit, reflecting the high weight of trade in the structure of the Albanian economy. In parallel, the manufacturing industry has recorded a strong growth of 29.2%, reaching 35.9 billion lek, while the extractive industry has recorded an even sharper expansion, with 62.1% more new loans compared to the previous year.
Another group of sectors that stand out for their rapid growth are services. Information and communication increased by 66.3%, administrative and support services by 80.7%, while financial and insurance activities recorded a very high growth of 185.8%. Professional, scientific and technical activities by 44.9% and real estate by 35.8% also show significant expansion.
In stark contrast to this positive picture stand several key sectors. Electricity and gas supply experienced a significant decline in new lending, by -46.6%, falling to only 13.0 billion lek.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing remain sectors with a very low weight in lending and with a slight annual decrease (-3.2%), which confirms once again the structural difficulties of financing this sector. On the other hand, very high increases in percentage terms in sectors such as water supply and waste management (+402.9%) or public administration (+188.9%) should be interpreted with caution, as they come from very low bases and do not significantly change their real weight in total credit.
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