The banking sector of Moldova will benefit from the creation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU, Adrian Lupusor, of the Independent Analytical Center “Expert-Grup”, said when presenting a study on the issue in a roundtable meeting, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the expert, despite the economic growth obtained by Moldova during the last years the baking sector is poorly integrated into the national economy and ranks among the last in the region as regards the share of loans in the GDP. The cost of loans is high owing to the high levels of the attracted resources, the large risk premiums and high bank margins. The study also points to systemic drawbacks in Moldova’s banking sector and to positive aspects such as the high level of liquidity owing to the banks’ reticence in the lending activity. This ensures the stability of the system and relative immunity from macroeconomic shocks. Adrian Lupusor considers the banking sector will encounter fewer problems than other sectors of the national economy during the negotiation and creation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU. The personnel of banks are highly qualified and competitive with that of the European banks. The fact that large European banks are among the shareholders of Moldovan banks is a positive element. “The Moldovan banks’ efficiency will improve if the legislation continues to be insistently adjusting to the EU legislation and if the imports of bank technologies remain at the same level. The side effects determined by the reduction in budgetary incomes, the appreciation of the national currency and the decrease in agricultural production at the first stage will be insignificant and will not pose a threat to the Moldovan banking system,” said Adrian Lupusor. Constanta Popescu-Mereacre, adviser to the Prime Minister on economic matters, said the creation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area will represent a signal for Western companies to come to Moldova and make investments. More investors will appear in the banking sector, possibly new banks. The existing banks will be restructured. Some of them will merge with others and become more efficient. Competition will increase and there will appear new banking services and new possibilities of financing businesses. Alexandru Fala, expert of the Institute of Economy, Finance and Statistics, shared the opinion that nothing disastrous for banks will happen if Moldova works under free trade conditions with the EU. He also said that the study is interesting as it provides data about profitability and other indicators of the banking system, stress testing models etc.