Two thirds of Romanians' savings are in euros

The population saved a sum equivalent to around 4.3 billion RON in foreign currencies, compared with 2.5 billion RON in the Romanian currency, 70% less, according to July data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania). "People have lost confidence in the Romanian currency, when they saw that the RON had seen a major depreciation last year. Additionally, inflation went up and, even though interest rates for deposits were going up, there was a risk that one would not have a positive real interest rate," explained financial analyst Dragos Cabat. Deposits set up by the population in banks reached an overall volume of 41.6 billion RON, up 11% against July 2007. The annualised growth rate of deposits differs depending on the currency, with the highest rise being recorded by savings in euros. The volume of term deposits set up in euros by individuals went up 38% over the last year, while deposits in RON went up by around 11%. Term deposits in other currencies slowed down the overall advance of deposits.