Romanian arrears approaching €1 bln threshold

The depreciation of the leu and an increase in interest have led to a rise in arrears, to €270 million in the first two months of 2009 alone, as the average exchange rate in February amounted to RON 4.2839/€1, above the January average.  Bankers are being forced to reschedule debtor payments, also dropping interest on outstanding loans.  “Non-performing clients are obviously those we are unwilling to offer supplementary facilities to.  With these we are discussing the rescheduling of payments based on various conditions.  There are small and medium-sized companies with whom we are already discussing the extension of payment terms, but unfortunately these are very few,” said Peter Weiss, President of RBS Bank Romania.