Baltic citizens take out regular loans for food

Kaspars Lukačovs, a credit expert at Luminor Bank, told the LSM that citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania take out consumer credits every month to cover basic needs such as food and healthcare. He said that 48% of Latvian, 35% Lithuanian, and 32% Estonian people get personal loans to meet their daily demands.

“This trend may reflect not only differences in the purchasing power of the population, but also a decrease in overall financial stability,” Lukačovs explained.

He added that the average loan size is €5,000 in Latvia, €6,000 in Lithuania, and €5,400 in Estonia — which also isn’t good news.

“On the one hand, smaller loan amounts may indicate greater caution. Residents may consciously choose smaller loan amounts to avoid long-term credit commitments. On the other hand, smaller amounts may reflect limited solvency and lower income, which reduces both households’ ability to save and their access to larger loans,” Lukačovs stated.

The fact that common Baltic citizens barely have enough money to buy food is already widely known to the public, not to mention the governments of these countries. However, people prefer to repeat after their leaders — as authorities take out huge loans for militarisation, citizens do the same, but for food. But there’s still a difference: impoverished ordinary people will repay both personal and state debts.