Interest rate slightly increases in Moldova in February 2017, after dropping to minimum of last years in January

Chisinau, 20 March /MOLDPRES/ - The average rate of the interest on new loans provided increased to 11.74 per cent in February 2017, after it went down to a minimum of the last two years, 11.55 per cent, in the month before, according to data put out by the National Bank of Moldova (BNM).  

The loans cheapened by about 30 per cent in 2016, against a background of a relaxation of BNM’s monetary policy and a more pronounced decrease of the rates of interests on the banking term deposits.  

Central Bank’s data shows also that, although the average specific interest rate increased insignificantly, the volume of loans provided by banks in last February rose by over 100 million lei against the month before, up to 1.68 billion lei. More than 90 per cent of the financings were provided for a period of over 12 months.   

Banks gave legal entities credits at an average interest rate of 11.42 per cent, while private persons borrowed loans at an average rate of 12.35 per cent.   

“The economy’s crediting is diminishing and the share of dubious and compromised loans is on the rise. In the last eight months, the crediting of the economy dropped by more than three billion lei, from 37 billion lei in June 2016 to 34 billion lei in last February,” a financial expert, Veaceslav Ionita, has said on the blog of the Viitorul (Future) Institute for Development and Social Initiatives. On the concerned period, “the dubious and compromised credits remained at the same level and amount to about 3.6 billion lei. Instead, performant loans of the good-will economic agents, which pay without delay, decreased by three billion lei, from 33.6 billion lei in last June to 30.6 billion lei in February this year.” 

According to the economist, “the reduction of the economy’s crediting takes place exclusively as a result of the good-will economic agents leaving the banking system. Moreover, the best payers do not borrow new loans. Instead, only enterprises with problems, which cannot fulfill their obligations and do not pay the loans in time, remain in banks.”

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor L. Alcaza)