The overall amount placed in June is RON45.6 billion (nearly EUR11 billion), the highest level recorded since January, when placements totaled RON57.8 billion (EUR13.8 billion). Bankers have used BNR’s overnight deposit facility every month in the past year, but the amounts varied widely, from RON1 billion (EUR0.24 billion) to nearly RON58 billion (almost EUR14 billion) – depending on conditions on the money market.
On the other hand, leu-denominated private lending has been following an almost uninterrupted downward path in the past few years. At the end of May leu-denominated private lending barely matched the level recorded in May last year, RON78 billion (around EUR18 billion), but in real terms this amounts to a 7.4% decline. The volume is visibly below the pre-crisis RON85 billion (EUR20.3 billion) level recorded in October 2008.
“The good news is there is liquidity in the system. Banks don’t want to keep their money with the BNR, and are analyzing projects in order to find the bankable ones. But this takes time,” says Lucian Anghel, chief economist of the BCR, the biggest local bank by assets.
He says savings, in particular individual savings, have performed quite well, but that bankable loan demand has remained low. The two trends have led to there being constant surplus liquidity on the market. (EUR1=RON4.2022)