NBR buys less foreign currency

The National Bank of Romania was a net foreign currency buyer last month, having bought almost 58 million euros from the interbank market, almost three times less than in the previous month. The growth pace of the foreign reserve was rather sluggish in March compared to last year, when monthly increases even amounted to 200 million euros.
Thus, the foreign currency reserves of the National Bank of Romania increased by only 21.2 million euros in March (February’s increase was also rather modest – $15.2m), although the bank bought 58 million euros from the interbank market. At the end of March, NBR’s currency reserves amounted to 5.82 billion euros. Despite the sluggish growth, the central bank did raise another 21.2 million euros by managing the international reserve.
According to the latest official data, the bulk of the international reserve is placed in American and European bonds and T-bills. At the end of 2002, these deposits accounted for some 2.2 billion euros.
The National Bank paid 59.5 million euros as instalments and maturing rates for the public foreign debt, direct and secured by the Finance Ministry. Moreover, 1.9 million euros were paid for the modification of the minimal compulsory currency reserves of the commercial banks, and also in various fees and contributions.
The gold reserve remained at 105.3 tonnes, accounting for 1.04 billion euros. On the whole, NBR’s international reserve (gold plus currency reserves) exceeds 6.87 billion euros (slightly down since February, when it amounted to 6.9 billion euros). By yearend, the bank must pay $1.428bn in the account of the foreign public debt, direct and secured by the Finance Ministry.
Romania’s gross international reserves went up faster than the medium and long-term foreign debt last year, although the latter was higher than initially anticipated. At the same time, the coverage of imports by the official reserve (gold and foreign currency) managed by NBR rose to 4.7 import months, compared with 3.5 months in 2001.