Has the growth pace of the banking loans to individuals and companies halved? So it might seem yet it is just a misleading image conveyed by figures. As the statistics for ROL compiled by the National Bank of Romania show, the lending speed slowed down from a peak of 50% in January 2004 to a little more than 26% in November 2004 compared with November 2003. The secret of the slowdown in the lending expansion pace to levels considered low risk by the IMF itself resides with the "miraculous" effects of the nominal appreciation of the ROL throughout November. Therefore the volume of foreign currency credits witnessed a 3.6% decline compared with November if calculated in ROL, although the actual funding in euros rose 2.4%. Only that this increase was cancelled by the ROL's appreciation by nearly 6% against the European currency. Unfortunately, the picture provided by the ROL statistics conceals a rather spectacular acceleration of the foreign currency lending denominated in euros: from 34.3% in January 2004 on January 2003, to 55.4% in November, which is nearly twice higher. At the same time the ROL component of the lending increased only 15% in real terms. Which shows once more how dramatic the effect of the dishearteningly high interests for ROL loans is compared with the visibly lower cost of the foreign currency credits that are getting cheaper as the ROL is getting stronger. ZF
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