Banks and the Economy

In a bid to ensure cheaper credits in the national currency, the Central Bank of Romania has reduced the monetary policy interest rate.

Corina Cristea, 02.10.2013, 13:05

Starting October 1st, 2013 in Romania the monetary interest rate is 4.25% per year, down from 4.5%. This is the third consecutive reduction decided by the board of the National Bank of Romania, in a bid to re-launch crediting in the national currency. However, the measure has produced no effects so far, and commercial banks have been criticized for not following the recommendations made by the Central Bank to offer cheaper loans in the national currency. Moreover, as the Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu has stated, instead of reducing interest rates on loans, commercial banks have reduced interest rates on savings. Mugur Isarescu:

“ When we establish these measures, we are careful to convey the right messages, as we do not want banks to drop interest on deposits. The scope there is very limited, and many have already exceeded the set boundaries.”

According to Governor Isarescu, commercial banks should be interested in reducing the costs of credits in lei. Anyway, the governor says, bankers will have no other choice, because they will have to do something with that money and the National Bank’s reserve is no solution, as the rate has already dropped to 1.25% and is very likely to drop even further. Isarescu believes that the high interests on credits in the national currency cannot be justified either by monetary policy developments, or by the situation on the monetary market, because costs on this market, where banks can get their liquidities from, are even 5 or 6 times lower than those entailed by loans to the population or companies. According to the National Bank of Romania, banks come up with their own justifications, concerning trust, their clients’ status, risks and the fact that talks on abusive clauses have created a state of uncertainty. However, the governor says, they have not economic or financial reasons not to reduce interests on credits.

Starting October 1st, banks in Romania must remove from contracts any clause declared abusive in a court of law. According to an impact study submitted by the Central Bank to the Romanian Government, banks might register 1 billion Euro worth of loses as a result of the collective law suits concerning abusive clauses included in the contracts signed with natural persons. Extrapolating the analysis to potential retroactive payments, commercial banks have calculated loses incurred by interests and commissions standing at approximately 5.3 billion Euros.