Exchange rate interventions add 350m euros to NBR's reserve

The NBR garnered a further 350m euros in its coffers in April,
with the foreign currency reserves thus hitting a new all-time high
of 32.38bn euros. Dealers account for this increase by the indirect
interventions the central bank allegedly operated on the forex
market in March and April in order to dampen RON growth pressures.
“The NBR massively acquired foreign currency from the market,” says
a dealer. While they do not comment on forex market operations, NBR
officials have repeatedly shown that RON growth beyond 4-4.1
RON/euro would harm exports and they would not hesitate to
intervene to correct exchange rate trends unjustified by economic
fundamentals. The very high level of NBR’s foreign currency
reserves, getting close to the total volume of operations carried
out on the interbank market in one month, is daunting any attempt
at betting on RON decline, the more so as the central bank has in
the past years shown it would not tolerate excessive exchange rate
volatility. The NBR also holds 103.7 tonnes of gold in its
reserves. Thus, NBR’s total reserves (foreign currency plus gold)
in late April stood at 35.33bn euros.