Romania’s three-month money market rate (ROBOR), the main indicator that sets the interest rates for RON currency borrowers, declined on Monday to 3.04 percent, the lowest level since June 21, on fewer transactions in the money market.
On Friday, 3-month ROBOR was 3.08 percent.
The 6-month ROBOR decreased to 3.36 percent, the lowest level since December 4.
Compared with the end of 2017, the 3-month index rose by 0.99 percentage point, from 2.05 percent.
Last Monday, the National Bank of Romania has stopped injecting liquidity into the money market through a repo operation (government securities-backed lending to banks), a move designed to address liquidity shortage – and to cap interest rates in the market.
This new decline of money market rates is mainly due to lower volumes of transactions.
“Apparently, there is not a lot of interest in the money market these days. The cash rates are trading around 2.00 percent with little action going on in the longer tenors. Volatility could rise again as we approach the monthly budget payments and the turn of the year,” ING Bank said on Monday, in a research note.
The 3-month ROBOR index reached a record low of 0.68 percent in September 2016.