Lending up, savings down in March

Credit taken out by companies in the private sector sped up once again in March and increased by 3.3% after a slower increase in January and February. In parallel, the appetite for savings was low, despite the higher interest rates paid by banks for deposits. At the end of March, the volume of non-government lending reached 164.6 billion RON (equivalent to 44.1 billion euros), indicates data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania). However, the annualised growth rate remained at 53%, after March 2007 had seen a significant credit increase. The accelerated growth in March was mainly fuelled by an increase in credits in foreign currency, while funding in RON saw a slower increase. There was a bigger appetite for loans in foreign currency, amid a relative stabilisation of the exchange rate, after a period of rapid growth, which extended from last autumn through January. However, the average exchange rate of the euro stood at over 3.72 RON in March, which marked the highest level witnessed since January 2005. Analysts were certain that the NBR (National Bank of Romania) had intervened on the forex market in January, and continued to make its presence felt even in the following months, to correct the RON depreciation trend, which officials of the central bank themselves had deemed as exaggerated.