Higher interests for lei

Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu on Wednesday met with representatives of the Finance Ministry and of the National Bank of Romania, to the end of deciding on a policy meant to make lei-denominated banking deposits more attractive than foreign currency-denominated ones, Government spokesperson Gabriela Vranceanu-Firea stated.

In line with calculations made during the Premier’s meeting with financial-banking officials, lei deposits will carry interest rates of over 3 percent monthly, namely 42-44 percent annually, while the depreciation of the domestic currency will be below this figure, Firea maintained.

Thus, persons who constitute savings in lei will register higher gains than those whose savings are foreign currency-denominated. At this moment, deposit interest rates offered to the population oscillate between 30 and 36 percent, and, as compared to inflation, they are real negative.

The chairman of the Romanian Association of Banks (ARB), Radu Gratian Ghetea, expressed his surprise at such a meeting held in the absence of banks and stated that “interests cannot be influenced by calculations, as they are settled in line with market rules.”

“When the Finance Ministry needed lei, it accepted without protesting an increase in offered yields, which implicitly led to the increase of all the other interest rates, while now, when it no longer needs lei, it keeps interests quite low,” Radu Gratian Ghetea explained.

Following a 5 percent depreciation of the domestic currency registered in August, which was triggered by the euro fall and by an inflation rate higher than initial estimates, a slight correction at the level of interest rates has been operated lately.