Savings still strong after NBR cuts interest

The appetite of the population for saving has remained robust, with RON deposits seeing a record increase, by almost 43% in real terms at the end of April against the same month last year. The growth rate has accelerated constantly since October last year, when it stood at a little over 10%. Deposits in RON became attractive to clients in the second half of 2006, when interests paid out by banks increased, amid a strengthening of the NBR’s monetary policy. At the same time, the significant decline in inflation at the end of last year resulted in a significant rise on real interests for deposits. Although the NBR (National Bank of Romania) made important reductions in the interest rate for monetary policy in the first four months of the year (a cumulated adjustment of 1.25 percentage points), the move was late in reaching the banks’ clients.