Monetary aggregates register upward trend

The monetary aggregates had an upward trend in January-March 2006 against the first 3 months of 2006, the data of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce show. The money supply M3 (Money supply M3 includes broad money M2 and deposits in foreign currency of residents expressed in MDL) reached at the end of March the volume of MDL 19.9 bln and has increased by 22.3% against the same period last year. The evolution of the money supply M3 was determined, especially, by the increase in the deposits in national and foreign currency, as well as the volume of cash in circulation. At the end of March, the volume of deposits in MDL has increased by 19.9% compared with 2006, reaching the amount of MDL 7.8 bln (with an average interest rate of 13.9% in March 2007, compared with 11.5% in March 2006). The deposits in foreign currency amounted to MDL 7.2 bln as of March 31 (the average rate of the interest – of 5.45% registered an insignificant increase against March 2006 – 4.85%) and went up by 37.8%. Thus, the deponents trust the banking system more, as it proved stability during the last few years. Along with the increase in the interest rate for deposits, the rate of the credits in MDL has also increased, by 0.5 percentage points, constituting 18.69% in February. In foreign currency, the interest rate has increased by 0.15 percentage points compared with March 2006 and constituted 11.06%. Also, the share of loans in economy went up by 37.7% against the end of March 2006, amounting to MDL 14.8 bln. The increases is due to the better conditions offered by the commercial banks, diversification of credits, the urgent need for investments, as well as the increase in the volume of consumer credits.