Interests went down again in the last couple of months after the trend had stopped in February due to the volatility of the money market. Corporate loan interests had gone up by 0.75% to 7.5% in February, for instance.
Interest rates have gone down a lot in the past year because of the monetary policy relaxation, considering companies were borrowing at an average of 9.5% a year and consumers at more than 12% a year in April 2013. Analysts say interest relaxation steps are still needed for a faster resurgence in lending.
“The lending market still needs relaxation steps and BNR is expected to continue buying foreign currency from the market, as such interventions are probably seen as a more flexible way of injecting cash into the market compared with the reduction of the minimum mandatory reserves,” says Vlad Muscalu, chief economist of ING Bank.
Leu lending saw an annual increase of 6% in April, so the total loan stock reached 89 billion lei (EUR20 billion) in April. Retail lending was faster to grow, driven by the government-backed “First Home” scheme.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)