Tuesday, 03 February, 2009
It is possible for a decline of interest rates on loans to be felt by the end of the year, bankers forecasted. The reason for the expected drop is the fall of the base interest rate (BIR) of BNB by 0,43% for March compared to February. Thus, the base interest rate is already 3,49% as it was 5,17% in January and 3,92 in February.
The new value is the lowest since January 2007 when it was 3,43%. At present interest rates on loans in BGN vary between 13% and 14% and about 12% for ones in EUR. Despite the drop of the BIR, however, it is not expected that interest rates on loans will fall right away, banker Levon Hampartzoumian explained for The Novinar daily. The goal at the moment is for interest rates on loans to remain at the same level and not to rise anymore.
In this way banks will be able to allocate loans easier, experts explained. If interests fall drastically, however, some banks may go bankrupt, they warned. Interest rates on corporate and consumer loans in Bulgaria will go down, but will never return to their previous levels, Hampartzoumian prognosticates.
By the end of the week, the European Central Bank is also to lower its base interest rate by about 0,5% - to 1,5%, which is a record-low level, financiers explain.
Source: http://www.focus-fen.net/