At end-April, broad money (M2) came in at ROL 198,613 billion, up 3.7 percent month-on-month in nominal terms and one percent in real terms. Both net foreign assets and net domestic assets were accountable for the increase in broad money.
Net foreign assets moved 4.5 percent higher to ROL 110,744 billion, owing to the 3.4 percent (USD102 million) advance under "Foreign Exchange" and the uptick under "Gold". The "Foreign Exchange" component expanded due mainly to the central bank's foreign exchange net purchases from the foreign exchange market.
Net domestic assets increased 2.6 percent month-on-month to ROL 87,869 billion, with domestic credit up 5.2 percent to ROL 122,137 billion and the deficit under other net assets widening by ROL 3,719 billion.
Non-government credit moved up 4.7 percent in April (in real terms, the rise equalled 1.9 percent over March and 6 percent for the first four months of 2001) to reach ROL 88,398 billion, due to the increase in both components: credit in foreign exchange rose by 4.4 percent (when expressed in lei) and credit in lei surged by 5.1 percent. Government credit, net, rose by 6.3 percent to ROL 33,739 billion, owing mainly to the launching of government securities on the domestic market and the decrease in the balance of the Ministry of Public Finance's current account in foreign exchange with the NBR.
Narrow money (M1) posted a 7.6 percent increase to ROL 42,070 billion as a result of the 8.6 percent pick-up in currency outside banks to ROL 25,811 billion and the 6 percent growth of demand deposits to ROL 16,259 billion.
Quasi-money moved 2.7 percent ahead to ROL 156,543 billion. Household savings edged 2.8 percent up to ROL 49,755 billion (accounting for 25.1 percent of broad money), amid the persistence of households' propensity towards holding ROL-denominated government securities, which expanded by 7 percent to ROL 12,576 billion. Household forex deposits, expressed in US dollars, inched up 2.3 percent, while household foreign-exchange-denominated government securities (equivalent to USD 126 million) dropped by 6.1 percent.
Corporate deposits in lei lowered by 5.9 percent to ROL 19,582 billion, mostly on the back of time deposits of companies with majority or wholly state-owned capital. Residents' forex deposits (including households), when expressed in lei, swelled by 4.7 percent to ROL 87,206 billion (or by 2.3 percent to USD 3,091 million).
At end-April, the non-bank sector held ROL-denominated government securities worth ROL 21,945 billion (up 4.5 percent over March). Foreign-exchange-denominated government securities with the non-bank sector fell by 11.5 percent month on month to the equivalent of USD 174.7 million. Foreign-exchange-denominated government securities with non-residents remained unchanged from the previous period, equalling USD 0.7 million, according to the data reported by the banks, which acted on behalf of the government.