“My hope is that we have (...) growth by the end of the year,” Isarescu added. According to the BNR Governor, four of the five crisis pressures - exchange rate, balance of payments, inflation and availability of capital - have already been overcome and economic growth is Romania’s next challenge.
“I never said and I am not now saying that the economy is doing well. I said that the economy has responded better than I was expecting to a necessary adjustment, because this is a painful procedure,” he said. Romania’s current account deficit narrowed significantly as of last November, due to lower imports and exports. In the first three months of 2009, the balance of payments deficit dropped by as much as 82.1 percent compared to Q1 2008.
Isarescu reiterated that BNR will release some €800 million from lenders’ reserves, as it recently decided to cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) to zero for foreign currency liabilities with maturity exceeding two years.
