Banca Naţională a României

At December 31^st, 2008 foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Romania stood at EUR 26,220 million, compared to EUR 27,228 million at November 30^th, 2008 and EUR 25,307 million at December 31^st, 2007.

The decrease recorded in December 2008 was mainly due to the evolution of the exchange rate of euro versus the US dollar and the Sterling pound. The foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Romania consist of assets denominated in euro (63%), US Dollars (32.55%), sterling pounds (4 %) and other currencies (0.45%). The appreciation of the exchange rate of euro versus the US dollar and Sterling pound during December 2008 caused the decrease of the value of the US dollar and Sterling pound components of the foreign exchange reserve with an equivalent of EUR 974 million.

During the month there have been the following transactions:

• EUR 1,588 million worth of inflows representing the change in the foreign-exchange reserve requirements of credit institutions, inflows in the Ministry of Economy and Finances account held at NBR, income from the management of foreign reserves, transactions in the interbank market, a.s.o.;
• EUR 2,596 million worth of outflows (including the EUR 974 million valuation difference pointed above) consisting in the change in foreign-exchange reserve requirements of credit institutions, payments from the account of the European Commission, principal repayments and interest payments on public and publicly guaranteed external debt, transactions in the interbank market.

The gold stock held steady at 103.7 tonnes. However, following the developments in the international price of gold, its value amounted to EUR 2,049 million.

The international reserves of Romania (foreign currencies and gold) at December 31^st, 2008 stood at EUR 28,269 million (5.4 months of import coverage), compared to EUR 29,340 million at November 30^th, 2008.

In January 2009, the payments due on public and publicly guaranteed external debt amount to EUR 81 million.