BNR spokesperson about statements on ROBOR's "doctoring": Intentionally creates confusion, disqualifying

The spokesperson of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), Dan Suciu, argues that the statements of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) senator Daniel Zamfir, according to which the ROBOR index is "doctored" with BNR's "direct knowledge and involvement", intentionally creates confusion, "which is disqualifying", because it does not take into account the scope of activity defined by law for the National Bank.

"I do not understand how the National Bank has done such a thing [tampering with ROBOR, ed.n.], because I have not seen any arguments from Mr. Zamfir to support the manipulation. I assure everyone that at least to our knowledge, such assumptions about manipulation do not exist. Mr. Zamfir does not understand, does not want to understand or intentionally creates confusion, which is disqualifying, because he simply does not take into account the scope of activity defined by law for the National Bank, namely the monetary policy, which entails price stability, inflation control. This is done through the monetary policy interest, which in turn determines the ROBOR variation on different maturities. Not taking into account the bank's scope, it is as if the role of the bank from the legal perspective is not recognized," BNR spokesman Dan Suciu told AGERPRES on Sunday.

He added that such accusations come from the same two or three people, "who, for 3-4 years, have only attacked and created confusion, thus affecting financial stability."

Asked if BNR Governor Mugur Isarescu will respond to the invitation made by the ALDE senator to attend the hearings in the Senate Economic Committee on January 29, Dan Suciu said BNR is open to discussion, but it depends on whether "real matters are brought to our attention."

"BNR is always open to talks, but it depends very much if real matters are brought to our attention so that we can have something to talk about. Let's see what real problems are being invoked," Suciu said.

ALDE Senator Daniel Zamfir has called on the National Bank of Romania to decide for ROBOR to be calculated on the basis of the transactions being carried out, holding that the index at which Romanians' installments with credits in lei are calculated is "doctored" by an agreement between the commercial banks, with BNR's "direct knowledge and involvement."