If Greece decided to pull out of the eurozone, the Romanian Central Bank could cover the deficit created by the financing problem stemming from Greek-owned banks' loans portfolios, said Misu Negritoiu, head of ING Romania.

“If Greece was out of the eurozone, which is less likely, at least not within two or three years, we have two bigger problems than the pressure on the exchange rate. One is the situation of the Romanian banking system and who takes on the financing need for the portfolio of loans in euro from Greek banks, which will probably be of some EUR 5 to 7 billion,”said Negritoiu during a TV show.

In the event of a Greek pull out from the eurozone, ING could take over some of the loans from Greek banks. “It is not a discussion, nobody discusses this, not even Greek banks talk about what they do when no longer part of eurozone or what they do in general,” said the ING Bank Romania head.

The exchange rate will most likely head to RON 5 per EUR, even if Greece stays in the single currency zone, in Negritoiu's opinion. The EUR was selling at RON 4.47 at the end of last week.

editor@romania-insider.com