Banks take more money from the population than they lend

The population in the first quarter again became a net creditor of the banking system, in the context where deposits have constantly increased in the past year, fuelled by stringent caution and the high interest rates offered by banks, in line with NBR data. The amount of deposits in late March reached 99.7bn RON (around 24.5bn euros), exceeding by almost one billion and a half the amount of loans aimed by banks at the population. Instead, companies have worsened their position to the banking system, with the deposit/loan ratio sliding to 66.7% in the first quarter from 72.2% in December. “The improvement trend of the population’s position to the banking system will maintain in the following period because Romanians will save further amid a background of caution. People are saving more because they do not have a very positive outlook to the future,” said Ionut Dumitru, chief-economist of Raiffeisen Bank. However, population deposit growth lost momentum at the start of this year against the same period of 2009 as the population’s disposable income started shrinking. Moreover, interests are no longer a strong incentive for saving.