Expert says Moldova overcomes deepest bank crisis in its history in 2018

Chisinau, 28 January /MOLDPRES/ - The enlivening of the process of crediting in 2018 marks the completion of the bank crisis which lasted five years – the deepest crisis in Moldova’s history – according to an analysis made by an expert of the Viitorul institute, Veaceslav Ionita.    

Ionita anticipates an improvement of the ratio credits – Gross Domestic Product and the ratio credits - deposits in 2019. This fact will allow the National Bank of Moldova to relax the monetary policy and reduce the compulsory reserves, which are at a record level since the declaration of Independence – 42.5 per cent.  

In terms of the volume of credits related to GDP, the crisis from 2014 was thrice stronger and twice longer than the one from 2009. The decrease was of 14 per cent in 2009 and lasted three years, while the one from 2014 was of 43 per cent and lasted five years. The blow got in 2014 was unprecedented since the formation of the banking system, the economist said.   

According to Ionita, after 2014, the banking system recovered relatively quickly in terms of accumulations of deposits. After 2016, the deposits grew constantly, reaching 63.5 billion lei, or by 13.5 billion lei more against three years ago. As for the activity of economy’s crediting, it was worst hit. The overall volume of loans dropped by 14.8 billion lei - from 47.2 billion lei in mid-201, to 32.1 billion lei in early 2018.  

Now, we witness a revival of the crediting process, which increased by 3.4 billion lei in 2018, of which more than a half of this growth is due to a single bank – Moldova Agroindbank (MAIB), which increased its portfolio of credits by 1.8 billion lei, Ionita noted. He also said that this enlivening of the crediting process marked the completion of the banking crisis, which had lasted five years. The overall balance of credits provided by the bank and nonbank sector will reach 50 billion lei in 2019.