NBR adds another 147m euros to reserve

NBR”s foreign currency reserve reached 18.29 billion euros at the end of April, an increase of a little more than 147 million euros compared with the previous month.

The increase was visibly lower than in the first quarter of the year, when the central bank boosted its foreign currency reserve by nearly half a billion euros a month. Under the circumstances, the annual rate of reserve increase fell slightly compared to March, although the reserve increase rate maintained a respectable 41%.

The central bank continues to collect foreign currency in its vault, as its reserves have been increasing uninterrupted for well over a year. Inflows maintained at a high level, totalling nearly 558 million euros in April. According to a release from the central bank, revenues are derived from the management of the international reserves, the modification of the minimal mandatory reserves in foreign currency made by commercial banks and transfers of foreign currency to the state”s reserve.

Foreign currency outflows totalled slightly more than 410 million euros in April. They were in form of payments on the principal and interests on the public foreign debt secured by the Finance Ministry, commissions and the modification of the mandatory reserves of the commercial banks. Payments due on the foreign debt by the end of the year total 946 million euros.

The NBR officials say that no operations have been conducted on the forex market since last autumn, and therefore are no longer included as a source of inflows to the reserve. The large volume of inflows and the trend of the exchange rate in some periods, however, make many dealers say that NBR probably does intervene on the market, albeit rather discreetly.

The RON last month witnessed a significant increase, with rates on the forex market falling from 3.52 RON/EUR (in late March) to lows of 3.45 RON/EUR, the lowest levels since last August. liviu.chiru@zf.ro