| BANKS, BETWEEN CRISIS AND CONFIDENCE 20/10/2008 |
| (2008-10-20) |
| Last updated: 2008-10-21 15:53 EET |
A notable aspect is that 53 per cent of Romanians have confidence in local banks, whereas the Americans, Australians and Icelanders, to mention just some examples, seem to have largely lost confidence in their domestic banking systems. Similarly, 28 per cent of the Romanians believe the safest saving method is to keep money in deposits opened with leading banks.
An equal number believe the acquisition of property is just as safe, although the current meltdown was triggered precisely by the collapse of real estate crediting in the United States. Nonetheless, as many as 16 per cent of the Romanians think the safest place to keep one's savings is at home. The Euro is the currency that 49 per cent of the Romanians trust the most. Quite a lot of respondents, that is, 40 per cent, also have confidence in the domestic currency, the leu, with only three per cent trusting the US dollar.
A significant 44 per cent believe the ongoing crisis will have the same effects in Romania as it has in other European countries. Close to one-quarter of the Romanians are more optimistic, and say Romania will be less affected, but another one quarter expect Romania to see even worse effects. There are also six per cent over-optimistic respondents, who trust Romania will be safe from this sort of problems. But president Traian Basescu is not one of them.
A proof in this respect is that he invited the banking community to work with the government with a view to containing the possible effects of the global economic crisis on Romania. On Friday in Bucharest he discussed with the governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isarescu, and with bank chairmen, and briefed them on the conclusions of a recent European Council meeting that focused on crisis management measures. According to the president, this partnership should also help Romania shift to the European single currency no later than 2014, as originally scheduled. We should also mention that Romanians' confidence in banks is reinforced by an important conclusion of the meeting in Bucharest, namely that the Romanian banking system is strong enough to cope with the crisis.
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2025-04-03
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