The decrease in the volume of legal entities’ deposits is a sign of increased business confidence and economic recovery - Veaceslav Ionita
In his latest economic analysis, the economic policy expert at IDIS Viitorul noted that in the first half of 2025, deposits of legal entities in the banking system began to decline after a long period of growth. Thus, while in 2020 the volume of bank deposits grew by 11.3 billion lei, in 2022 by 4.9 billion lei, and in 2024 by 15.2 billion lei, in the first half of this year it decreased by 4.1 billion lei compared to the same period of the previous year. The expert sees a positive sign in the fact that the trend toward moving money to banks has slowed in the last two years. The expert recalled that in 2010-2012, banks offered loans for approximately the same amount, but after the 2014 crisis, the situation changed for the worse – they accumulated almost 114 billion lei in deposits and issued loans for only 63.9 billion lei. "At that time, the excess money in the banking system reached a historic high of 50 billion lei. Today, the volume of deposits is also increasing, but lending is growing at a faster pace. Last year, after a long period, the liquidity surplus fell to 48.3 billion lei, and in the first half of this year, it fell to 39.2 billion lei," he noted. According to the expert, in January-June 2025, deposits of individuals amounted to 768 billion lei per month, and those of legal entities were 85 billion lei less, which, in the expert's opinion, indicates that Moldovan citizens continue to put their money in banks because they have no opportunities for investment. The expert also notes that in recent years, the growth in bank deposits has been driven by deposits in Moldovan lei, which are increasingly trusted by the population—65% of all deposits made by Moldovan citizens are in lei, which is the highest figure in history. Veaceslav Ionita called on the population to keep their money in Moldovan lei and not to keep it at home. "If you are not ready for passive investments, such as real estate, government securities are at least the best instrument. In 2022, the state paid 20.4% per annum on 2-year government securities, while banks paid 7.4% per annum on interest on deposits. Banks took Moldovans' money on deposit and bought government securities to earn income," the economist noted. At the same time, according to the expert, net savings of individuals (cash deposited in banks minus loans taken out) decreased by 1.6 billion lei in the first half of this year. Moldovan citizens borrowed more than they deposited. “This is a positive situation for Moldova. The measures taken by the National Bank in recent years have slowed down the country's economy as a result of reduced lending to the population. Currently, after many years of crisis, there is an acceleration in consumption and household spending,” the expert noted. According to Veaceslav Ionita, in 2013, the share of deposits in GDP was 43.4%, in 2019 – 32.5%, in 2020 – 39.9%, in 2022 – 34.6%, and in 2024 – 39.9%. In the first half of 2025, this figure was 39.8%. //01.08.2025 – InfoMarket.
