At end-May 2002, broad money (M2) came in at ROL 290,629 billion, up 1.6 percent in nominal terms (down 0.3 percent in real terms). The increase in broad money resulted from the divergent developments in the two of its counterparts.
Net foreign assets grew by 15.5 percent to ROL 201,420 billion, due to the 18.7 percent climb under "Convertible currencies" and the broadly unchanged "Gold" component. The "Convertible currencies" component went up on the back of the launching of bonds on the foreign equity market, and the net foreign exchange purchases by the central bank from the forex market.
Net domestic assets moved 20.1 percent lower to ROL 89,209 billion. Domestic credit dropped 14.1 percent to ROL 143,045 billion, and the negative balance under other assets, net narrowed by 1.7 percent.
In May, non-government credit picked up 1.9 percent (12 percent real increase in the first five months of the year) to ROL 143,072 billion solely on the back of the 6 percent rise in foreign-exchange denominated loans (6.3 percent growth when expressed in ROL). ROL-denominated non-government loans fell by 5.1 percent.
Government credit, net recorded a ROL 26.9 billion negative balance as the government shifted to the position of creditor towards the banking system. The ROL 26,043 drop in government credit, net, was chiefly the result of the rise in foreign exchange deposits of the Ministry of Public Finance with the National Bank of Romania following the launch of Eurobonds on the international market (EUR 686.5 million).
Narrow money (M1) went down by one percent to ROL 59.796 billion, due to the 7.1 percent decrease in currency outside banks (to ROL 34,997 billion) and the 9.3 percent growth in demand deposits (to ROL 24,799 billion).
Quasi-money moved 2.3 percent higher at ROL 230,833 billion. Household savings leapt 1.9 percent to ROL 73,852 billion, accounting for 25.4 percent of broad money against 25.3 percent at end-April, and government securities outstanding with households picked up 3.1 percent to ROL 18,650 billion. Foreign-exchange deposits of households (when expressed in USD) fell by 1.9 percent, to the equivalent of USD 1,804 million, while the volume of foreign-exchange government securities outstanding with households surged by 161.2 percent to the equivalent of USD 109 million.
Corporate deposits in ROL moved down by 1.1 percent to ROL 33,939 billion. Time deposits went down by 4.3 percent to ROL 20,290 billion, while restricted deposits and certificates of deposit advanced 2.9 percent (to ROL 6,433 billion) and 5.1 percent (to ROL 7,216 billion) respectively.
Forex deposits of residents (including households), when expressed in ROL, added 3.5 percent to ROL 123,042 billion (when expressed in USD, forex deposits moved 3.2 percent ahead to USD 3,669 million).
At end-May, non-banks held government securities worth ROL 43,562 billion (up 11 percent month on month). Foreign-exchange government securities outstanding with non-banks amounted to the equivalent of USD 187 million, up 96.8 percent versus April.