Banca Naţională a României

In January 2005, developments in monetary indicators were the result of both the appreciation of the domestic currency against the EUR (5.4 percent in nominal terms) and the impact of seasonal factors.

Broad money (M2) ran at ROL 631,223 billion at end-January 2005, down 2.2 percent (3 percent in real terms) month on month. In year-on-year comparison, broad money leapt by 39.6 percent, or 28.2 percent in real terms.

Net foreign assets inched up 0.03 percent to ROL 361,457 billion, due to the increase under "Convertible currencies", while "Gold" remained unchanged.

Net domestic assets dropped by 5 percent to ROL 269,766 billion. Domestic credit moved down 2.1 percent to ROL 358,010 billion and the negative balance under other assets, net, widened by 8.1 percent to ROL 88,244 billion.

In January, non-government credit crept down 1.1 percent (1.9 percent in real terms) to ROL 413,355 billion, owing to the 2.5 percent fall in forex-denominated loans when expressed in ROL (up 3 percent when expressed in EUR) and the 1.1 percent growth in ROL-denominated loans. In year-on-year comparison, non-government credit jumped by 32.3 percent (21.5 percent in real terms) on account of the 16.9 percent growth in ROL-denominated loans (7.3 percent in real terms) and the 45.2 percent expansion in foreign exchange-denominated loans when expressed in ROL (57.2 percent when expressed in EUR).

Government credit, net, posted a negative balance of ROL 55,345 billion (compared with ROL 52,429 billion in December 2004), as a result of the following: (i) the increase in thebalance of General Account of the Treasury; (ii) the redemption of ROL-denominated government securities launched by the Ministry of Public Finance on the domestic market; (iii) the decrease in forex deposits of the Ministry of Public Finance with the National Bank of Romania.

Narrow money (M1) moved 7.3 percent lower to ROL 142,406 billion, on the back of the 3.9 percent fall in currency outside banks (to ROL 72,395 billion) and the 10.5 percent contraction in demand deposits (to ROL 70,011 billion).

Quasi-money inched down 0.6 percent to ROL 488,817 billion. Households savings added 2.8 percent to ROL 139,427 billion, accounting for 22.1 percent of broad money. Households savings expanded year over year by 37.9 percent, or 26.6 percent in real terms.

Corporate deposits in ROL fell 3.3 percent to ROL 117,547 billion. Time deposits shrank by 7.2 percent to ROL 77,815 billion, restricted deposits climbed 1.8 percent to ROL 15,744 billion and certificates of deposit advanced by 8.3 percent to ROL 23,988 billion. Corporate deposits in ROL surged by 60.6 percent (47.5 percent in real terms) over the same year-ago period.

Residents' deposits in foreign exchange (households included), when expressed in ROL, slid by 1.2 percent to ROL 231,843 billion (up 4.5 percent to EUR 6,180 million when expressed in EUR). Household deposits in foreign exchange slipped by 1.8 percent to ROL 96,218 billion (up 3.8 percent when expressed in EUR to EUR 2,565 million).

Corporate deposits in foreign exchange dipped by one percent to ROL 126,333 billion (up 4.6 percent when expressed in EUR to EUR 3,367 million). Year over year, residents' forex deposits rose by 42.9 percent, household deposits in foreign exchange grew by 19.3 percent and corporate forex deposits surged by 75.1 percent.

At end-January 2005,non-banks held government securities totalling of ROL 61,529 billion (8.1 percent lower month on month), of which foreign exchange-denominated securities to the equivalent of EUR 113.3 million, down 0.2 percent from December 2004.