The trend reflects both the decline of interest rates for leu deposits to all-time lows, as well as the rising interest for investments in the real economy, amid local demand consolidation signals, says Andrei Radulescu, senior economist at Banca Transilvania.
Banks paid an average interest rate of 1% in February for deposits attracted from companies, half the level of last autumn. By comparison, interest rates for company deposits stood at 16-17% per annum in 2009, so that it is not surprising companies are no longer encouraged to keep their money with banks given the current interest rates.
Deposits opened with lending institutions participating in the local guarantee scheme amounted to RON148 billion at the end of March. Another RON22 billion were deposits set up with local branches of foreign banks. Deposits opened with local lending institutions dropped by over RON11 billion in the first three months, while deposits attracted by foreign bank branches added RON1.5 billion.
Companies’ leu-denominated deposits totaled RON86 billion at the end of the first quarter, down by over 15% (the equivalent of over RON15 billion) from December 2014. Foreign currency-denominated deposits rose by almost RON6 billion (EUR1.3 billion).
By comparison, population’s deposits rose in the first quarter of this year both in lei and foreign currency, but the advance was not a spectacular one considering interest rates fell on this segment, too. Individuals’ total deposits neared RON140 billion (EUR32 billion) in late March, RON1.6 billion above the level of December 2014.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)