At end-February, broad money (M2) came in at ROL 186,210 billion, up 3.4 percent month-on-month in nominal terms and 1.1 percent in real terms. Both net foreign and domestic assets were accountable for the increase in broad money.
Net foreign assets grew by 3.5 percent to ROL 100,430 billion, owing to the 4.6 percent advance under 'Foreign Exchange' and the slight increase under 'Gold'. The "Foreign Exchange" component was driven upwards mainly by the foreign exchange net purchases of the central bank from the forex market.
Net domestic assets rose by 3.3 percent month-on-month to ROL 85,780 billion, with domestic credit up by 3.8 percent to ROL 110,459 billion and the negative balance of other net assets increasing by ROL 1,257 billion.
The non-government credit edged up 4.1 percent (in real terms, the change was 1.7 percent over January and 3.1 percent for the first two months of the year) to ROL 82,019 billion, due to the increase in both components: credit in foreign exchange moved up by 3 percent (or 5.2 percent when expressed in lei) and credit in lei rose by 2.5 percent. Credit to government, net, advanced by 2.8 percent to ROL 28,449 billion. This development was the result of: (i) the decrease in the balance of the Ministry of Public Finance's current account in foreign exchange with the NBR; (ii) the redemption of some ROL-denominated government securities issued to support the restructuring of the banking system; and (iii) the purchase by banks of ROL-denominated government securities from clients1).
Narrow money (M1) increased by 4.1 percent to ROL 39,512 billion as a result of the 3.4 percent growth of currency outside banks to ROL 23,752 billion and of the 5.2 percent rise in demand deposits to ROL 15,760 billion.
Quasi-money moved 3.2 percent ahead to ROL 146,698 billion. Household savings edged 2.4 percent up to ROL 46,923 billion (accounting for 25.2 percent of broad money), amid the maintenance of households' propensity towards holding ROL-denominated government securities, which expanded 9.9 percent to ROL 10,770 billion. Household forex deposits, expressed in US dollars, grew by 3.2 percent, while household foreign-exchange-denominated government securities (equivalent to USD 78.3 million) plunged by 24.5 percent.
Corporate deposits in lei moved 9 percent higher to ROL 19,372 billion, mostly on the back of time deposits of state-owned companies. Residents' forex deposits, expressed in lei, rose by 2.4 percent to ROL 80,402 billion (or by 0.3 percent to USD 2,971 million when expressed in US dollars).
At end-February, the non-bank sector held ROL-denominated government securities worth ROL 18,990 billion (up 8.8 percent over January). Foreign-exchange-denominated government securities held by the non-bank sector posted a 23 percent decline from January to the equivalent of USD 106.4 million.
1) Government securities held by non-bank clients are not part of the credit to government, net. The State's debtor position vis-ŕ-vis the banking system increases through the purchase of such securities by banks.