Negritoiu expects RON depreciation

“I see RON depreciation as a monetary policy goal in 2006,” says Misu Negritoiu, deputy general manager of ING Bank. He believes an exchange rate correction will be necessary to adjust the appreciation of the domestic currency. “The competitiveness of the current interest rates on RON loans is very much down to the exchange rate that kept on distorting the final price of funding in domestic currency, compared with funding in foreign currency throughout 2005. At the same time, the current account deficit is above limit,” Negritoiu stated. By the end of 2005, the appreciation of the RON in nominal terms had already gone down to 7.5% from a peak of 14% reached mid-year. The ING head says that the National Bank of Romania (NBR) failed to apply anything more than a survival strategy last year, which pushed the problems back for 2006. He expects the intervention policy of the central bank to be more transparent. ZF