Deposit interest rates hit record highs in February

Interests on the population’s savings in RON climbed in February to a record 16.31%, more than double the interests offered by banks in February last year, according to data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania). For deposits in euros, the average interest rate offered to the population was 6.65%, after a 6.79% all-time high in January. Market sources say interests rose to as much as 20% per year for RON deposits and to 9-10% for euro deposits for negotiated deposits, i.e. for high sums or for preferential clients. “The pressure on funding raised interest rates to very high levels, excessively high, in fact. They continue to be very high, significantly above the interbank interest rate, although the first signs of a decline have started to show,” says Ionut Dumitru, chief-economist of Raiffeisen Bank. The average interest on the clients’ credits in euros climbed to a 9.57% peak in February, as a result of an increase in the banks’ funding costs in autumn.