Romania’s foreign currency reserves drop by EUR 800 mln in May

Romania’s international reserves (foreign currencies plus gold) totaled EUR 36.71 billion at the end of May, EUR 800 million less than one month earlier, Romania’s National Bank (BNR) announced.

The stock of foreign currency alone stood at EUR 32.83 billion, EUR 860 million less than one month earlier. The decline, caused by a significant installment related to Government’s debt to the European Union, offset half of the EUR 1.6 billion increase in the foreign reserves achieved in April on the back of the Eurobond issue.

In May, there were EUR 1.11 billion inflows to the BNR reserves, including among others the change in the minimum required reserves of the credit institutions and transfers from the European Commission to the Finance Ministry’s accounts. The outflows totaled EUR 1.96 billion, including the repayment of EUR 1.18 billion of the Government’s external debt. The Finance Ministry repaid EUR 1.03 bln of its debt to the European Union, deriving from the balance of payment assistance programmes 2009-2011.

The gold reserve remained constant at 103.7 tonnes at the end of May, when it was valued at EUR 3.88 billion.

BNR has to pay only EUR 104 million of the Government’s external debt in June.

(Photo source: Shutterstock)