Banca Naţională a României

At end-December 2006, broad money (M2) totalled RON 111,711 million, up 9.6 percent (8.8 percent in real terms) month on month. In year-on-year comparison, broad money moved up 29.4 percent, or 23.4 percent in real terms.

Net foreign assets dropped 1.8 percent in December to RON 47,381 million, as a result of declines under "Convertible currencies" and "Gold", by 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Net domestic assets increased 19.8 percent to RON 64,330 million against the background of the 14.4 percent pick-up in domestic credit to RON 81,111 million.

In December, non-government credit edged up 1.5 percent (0.8 percent in real terms) against November 2006 to RON 93,283 million. Specifically, RON-denominated loans rose 1.3 percent (0.6 percent in real terms), while foreign currency-denominated loans grew by 1.7 percent when expressed in RON (up 3.3 percent when expressed in euro). At end-December 2006, non-government credit jumped year on year by 53.7 percent (46.6 percent in real terms) on the back of the 77.3 percent surge in RON-denominated loans (69.1 percent in real terms) and the 33.7 percent increase of foreign currency-denominated loans expressed in RON (when expressed in euro, forex loans advanced by 45.4 percent).

Government credit, net, posted a credit balance of RON 12,172 million compared to RON 20,988 million in November 2006, mainly due to the decrease in deposits of the General Account of Treasury.

Narrow money (M1) went up 15.6 percent to RON 35,372 million, on account of the 21.4 percent growth of demand deposits and the 8.6 percent rise in currency outside banks.

Quasi-money expanded by 7.0 percent to RON 76,339 million. Household savings in domestic currency increased 6.4 percent to RON 21,199 million, accounting for 19.0 percent of broad money. In year-on-year comparison, household savings climbed 24.8 percent, or 19.0 percent in real terms.

Corporate deposits in domestic currency added 9.2 percent to RON 23,984 million. Time deposits went up 8.7 percent to RON 19,085 million, certificates of deposit grew 4.4 percent to RON 2,165 million, and restricted deposits picked up 17.3 percent to RON 2,734 million. At end-December 2006, corporate deposits in domestic currency jumped 26.8 percent, or 20.9 percent in real terms, over end-December 2005.

Deposits in foreign exchange of residents (natural and legal entities) rose by 5.8 percent to RON 31,156 million when expressed in domestic currency and expanded by 7.5 percent to EUR 9,213.3 million when expressed in euro. In year-on-year comparison, residents' forex deposits expressed in euro advanced by 30.9 percent, household deposits in foreign exchange by 42.4 percent and corporate deposits in foreign exchange by 21.6 percent.

Government securities held with non-banks dropped 4.1 percent to RON 2,945 million. At end-December 2006, government securities with non-banks fell by 23.6 percent compared with the same year-ago period.