Bogza, Bancpost: Credits could cheapen in a month or two

Banks have room to cut interests on RON deposits, and credits should become cheaper a month or two from the Romanian central bank’s decision to relax the monetary policy, according to Mihai Bogza, chief executive of Bancpost. “After the message has been received from the NBR (National Bank of Romania) that there are solutions to make liquidity available, it is time for things to go back to normal. One cannot have under 7% inflation and such high interest rates on deposits, it’s not sustainable in the long run.” The NBR cut half a percentage point off the monetary policy interest rate, to 9.5% a year last week, and renewed its promise for an adequate management of liquidity on the market. Bogza says high interest rates on deposits have put banks in a situation where they had to make credits more expensive, as well, which has generated repayment difficulties for clients with credits to repay and has discouraged those who would have wanted to take out new loans.