Central bank lent RON 1 billion per day to banks in January

 

The loan value has also peaked since October, when the central bank was forced to inject massive liquidity onto the market, following an attack against the local currency.

BNR was net lender of the banking system, lending more funds than attracting deposits, given that some banks faced liquidity shortages.

“If we do the math, RON 30.43 billion in January means deals worth approximately RON 1 billion (€233.1 million) per day. This is nothing spectacular, because it was obvious that BNR would become net lender and banks would become net debtors, as far back as [last] August," Raiffeisen Bank Romania's Chief Economist, Ionut Dumitru, said.

“I expect the loan volume to increase in the coming period, because it is difficult to foresee when the situation will stabilize," he added. BNR lent as much as RON 49 billion (€11.4 billion) in October 2008. Speaking of last month's hike in lending, Dumitru said that the month-on month significant increase is due to the fact that December “ is a special month, when bank deposits rise in a single month as much as they do in [the remaining] 11 months," so banks did not require loans. “There are no liquidity problems on the market," Dumitru stressed.