Romanians have saved up more than five billion Euros, since the beginning of 2009

Time deposit accounts of the population rose in the last nine months by 20.9 billion Lei, which means approximately 5 billion Euros. The greatest rise was recorded among citizens in the capital city, Bucharest, who cumulated, during this time, deposits of 7.7 billion Lei. Analysts consider this was possible because of the salary and pension increase in 2008 and the rate of interest offered by financial institutions.

Time deposits in banks advanced due to the increase of savings in the national coin by 12.8 billion Lei and in the foreign currency by 8.1 billion Lei. Compared to last year, the growth rate of deposits in the national currency rose by 46.43%, overtaking foreign currency deposits, of 41.8%.

Chief Economist of BCR bank Romania, Lucian Anghel, explains that this is due to last year’s increase in pensions and salaries and that the rate of growth will slowly decrease over the next period. He also noted that this is the first time in many years that deposits in Romania exceed the number of loans.