Bulgaria – National Bank announces base interest rate for November 2012, releases bank balance sheets and income statements for September 2012

On 31 October the Bulgarian National Bank (Българска народна банка - БНБ) announced its base interest rate (Основен лихвен процент) for November 2012.  The rate will be 0.04% p.a., a slight increase from 0.03% in October and a return to the rate of 0.04% that applied in September.

Source: БНБ обяви ОЛП за ноември 2012 г. (2012-10-31)

Historical table of base interest rate since 1991: Основен лихвен процент

N.B.: The National Bank’s base interest rate has been below 1% continuously since November 2009 and below 0.25% continuously since February 2010, but the impact on interest rates of this loose money policy – essentially a zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP) – is far from clear, since the highest interest rates currently available in Bulgaria for 12-month time deposits of € 1,000 or equivalent are as follows:

EUR: 6.00%

USD: 4.20%

GBP: 4.50%

CHF: 2.60%

BGN (Bulgarian leva, pegged to the euro since 1999): 6.90%

On 31 October the National Bank also published monthly balance sheets and income statements for all 31 commercial banks operating in Bulgaria, both banks incorporated in Bulgaria and branches of foreign banks.  Under the heading “Attracted funds” – “Deposits”, the banks receiving the largest amounts of new deposits in September in each category were as follows:

Category of deposit	Largest amount (in BGN)	Bank achieving largest amount
By credit institutions (i.e., banks), in BGN	446,460	UniCredit Bulbank AD
By credit institutions (i.e., banks), in EUR	1,549,184	Alpha Bank S.A. - Bulgaria Branch
By credit institutions (i.e., banks), in other currencies	138,071	Corporate Commercial Bank AD
By institutions other than credit inst., in BGN	2,314,313	UniCredit Bulbank AD
By institutions other than credit inst., in EUR	1,470,963	UniCredit Bulbank AD
By institutions other than credit inst., in other currencies	206,082	UniCredit Bulbank AD*
By individuals and households, in BGN	3,780,951	DSK Bank AD
By individuals and households, in EUR	2,275,371	First Investment Bank
By individuals and households, in other currencies	486,516	UniCredit Bulbank AD

*Corporate Commercial Bank AD came in very close at 2nd place with 199,786

Source: Данни за банките и клоновете на чуждестранни банки към 30.09.2012 - Привлечени средства (2012-10-31)

Mark Pleas

Eastern Europe Banking & Deposits Consultant

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