For the full year, real GDP in Romania registered a decline of 7.2 per cent. After the country received financial assistance from the IMF and the EU in May 2009, international banks operating in Romania agreed not to reduce lending as far as possible. That helped bring about a slight increase of lending to both private individuals and corporate customers as of 30 September 2009. After devaluation at the end of 2008, the Romanian leu was kept largely stable by the central bank in 2009 and recovered further toward the end of the year.