Expert // More loan applications from Moldovans in the coming months
In the coming months, there will be more loan applications from Moldovans, said economic policy expert Veaceslav Ionita. According to him, this is due to the National Bank of Moldova, which has been relaxing monetary policy for several months now, which is encouraging investment. At the same time, the economic expert says that a greater demand for mortgage loans will be when the monthly rate will be less than 10%.
Thirty-five percent of all mortgage loans taken out at the end of last year were in foreign currency, an unprecedented phenomenon, said economic policy expert Veaceslav Ionita. The expert points out that in 2023 the situation will change and Moldovans will start accessing more loans in national currency.
"The market is starting to grow after six months of decline. Money's getting cheaper at a promising speed, and lending in foreign currency will practically disappear in the coming months as people switch back to lei. The population, in the next three to six months, will return to the normal situation, when the interest rate will be below 10%, when consumer credit will enter our active life with a billion lei monthly loans. Mortgage loans will enter the active area of 500-700 million lei monthly", said Veaceslav Ionita.
At the end of June, the National Bank of Moldova decided to lower the base rate by 4 percentage points to 6%. This decision continues the string of stimulus measures adopted recently, with the aim of creating the necessary monetary conditions and bringing inflation back to the 5% target, the NBM said. The decision was taken against the background that the National Bank forecasts inflation for this year at 13.7 percent and 5.5 percent in 2024, after the consumer price index rose by 30 percent last year.
