Official data showed that around EUR 2.7 billion was used to service the public external debt. An undisclosed amount was converted into local currency by the government, which holds RRF disbursements at the central bank as part of the foreign exchange reserves.
Analysts attributed a significant part of the remaining decline in foreign currency reserves to the central bank addressing depreciation pressures on the local currency, amid the prolonged political crisis and foreign investors’ reduction of their Romanian portfolio exposures.
The combination of the worsening political situation, albeit expected, and the September reserve data pushed the Romanian currency to depreciate at a relatively fast pace for its historically low volatility, reaching nearly RON 5.35 per euro in the hours after the interbank market closed in Bucharest, from an intraday level below RON 5.28 per euro quoted by the central bank.
“I have no way of commenting on the exchange rate level. The BNR is trying to find a balance between the exchange rate and interest rates. We still maintain some limits, but there are certain consequences. The withdrawal of liquidity from the market creates some difficulties for financing the economy and the budget,” BNR spokesperson Dan Suciu told Economica.net.
The yield on Romania’s 10-year local-currency government bonds peaked at 7.75% on the same day before easing to 7.67%, compared with around 7.1% a month earlier.
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