Banca Naţională a României

On March 31st, 2009 foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Romania stood at EUR 25,121 million, compared to EUR 25,917 million at February 28th, 2009.

The decrease recorded in March 2009 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 (65%), US Dollars (27.50%), sterling pounds (7 %) and other currencies (0.5%). The appreciation of the exchange rate of euro versus the US dollar and Sterling pound during March 2009 caused the decrease of the value of the US dollar and Sterling pound components of the foreign exchange reserve with an equivalent of EUR 422 million.

During the month there have been the following transactions:

• EUR 3,519 million worth of inflows representing the change in the foreign-exchange reserve requirements of credit institutions, inflows in the Ministry of Public Finances account held at NBR, income from the management of foreign reserves, transactions in the interbank market, a.s.o.;
• EUR 4,315 million worth of outflows 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 2,305 million.

The international reserves of Romania (foreign currencies and gold) on March 31st, 2009 stood at EUR 27,426 million, compared to 28,401 on February 28th, 2009.

In April 2009, the payments due on public and publicly guaranteed external debt amount to EUR 85 million.