Only one victory for bankers in the battle of high interest rates

It is only population's deposits that have managed to consolidate a constant growth pace, after almost six months during which banks have fiercely battled to lure savings, raising interest rates to as much as over 15% per annum. Firms have instead cut savings, as they have been forced to use their own funds amid the shortage of banking financing at acceptable costs. Foreign currency-denominated deposits have not risen in the past four months, either, despite banks' appealing interest rates. Now, bankers are speaking about the need to slash interest rates paid to customers as they are unable to place raised funds in credits, so as to be able to derive profits. However, there will not be a steep interest cut and the impact should not be significant, either. Ionut Dumitru, chief economist of Raiffeisen Bank, says banks will be further interested in attracting deposits, so that paid interest rates will also be attractive. Despite high interest rates, deposits have posted modest growth. Since February, population's RON deposits are rising by a monthly pace of a little above 2% and in the previous three months paces had fluctuated between 1.5% and 4%.