Romanian PM mocks central bank’s management on lending costs

Romanian prime minister Mihai Tudose mocked Romania’s National Bank (BNR) representatives on Friday, September 29, for failing to do something about the recent spike in the interbank interest rate ROBOR, the main benchmark for the cost of loans in lei. The 3-month ROBOR level (ROBOR 3M), which most banks use in their lending contracts, reached 1.58% on Friday, up from 1.09% just one week earlier. This is the highest level since January 2015, according to data the central bank published on Friday. The “colleagues” from Romania’s National Bank (BNR) were probably not home because it was their duty to intervene, prime minister Mihai Tudose said on Friday. “We should at least know: is it still Romania’s National Bank or is it a structure of gods that deal with their own existence, a very good one,” Tudose said. BNR shouldn’t have let the ROBOR interest rate go up and shouldn’t have allowed some actors to play with this, the prime minister added. The PM may have a meeting with the BNR governor Mugur Isarescu this week. The EUR/RON exchange rate is also at a multi-year high, very close to the 4.6 RON/EUR level. editor@romania-insider.com