Banca Naţională a României

On August 31^st 2009, National Bank of Romania’s foreign exchange reserves stood at EUR 27,743 million, compared to EUR 27,326 million on July 31^st 2009.

During the month, the following transactions have taken place:

• EUR 2,400 million worth of inflows, representing changes in the structure of the foreign exchange reserve requirements of credit institutions, the increase of Romania’s share of the general allocation of SDRs made by the IMF, inflows in the Ministry of Public Finances’ accounts (including the notes issued on the local market), inflows in the European Commission’s account held at NBR, income from the management of foreign exchange reserves, a.s.o.;
• EUR 1,983 million outflows, representing changes in the level of the foreign exchange reserves following the decision to lower the minimum reserve requirements ratio on foreign currency-denominated liabilities with residual maturities of up to two years to 30 percent from 35 percent starting with the August 24-September 23, 2009, maintenance period, interest and principal payments on public and publicly guaranteed external debt, a.s.o.

The gold stock has held steady at 103.7 tonnes. However, following the change in the international price of gold, its value amounted to EUR 2,207 million.

The international reserves of Romania (foreign currencies and gold) on August 31^st, 2009 stood at EUR 29,950 million, compared to EUR 29,540 million on July 31^st , 2009.

During the month of September 2009, the payments due on public and publicly guaranteed external debt amount to EUR 100 million.