Romanians start to prefer RON over foreign currency for deposits

Romanians’ foreign currency deposits rose by 16.9% in euros in the past year, reaching 9.1 billion euros at the end of January (35.5 billion RON), according to data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania). In the last few months, however, foreign-currency savings slowed down abruptly, in parallel with the exchange rate stabilisation.
In January, the value of foreign-currency deposits saw an insignificant rise against December, with RON-denominated amounts even declining by 1.5%. Analysts say last year foreign-currency savings rose as a result of the depreciation of the Romanian currency, as well as amid political instability.
“January data point to a change in the population’s preference for deposits in the national currency over savings in foreign currency, due to the stabilisation of the exchange rate and even a strengthening of the RON against the European currency,” says Melania Hancila, chief economist of Volksbank. Individuals’ RON deposits continued to climb in January by 1.2% against the previous month, to 59.9 billion euros, amid a return in confidence in the national currency.