NBR's International Reserves in March 2000
04.04.2000
The building of forex reserves of the NBR continued into March. At the end of the first quarter of 2000, they amounted to USD 1,632.5 million.
Forex reserves went up by USD 67.3 million as a result of the following operations:
- net purchases by the central bank from the forex market in amount of USD 206.7 million;
- principal and interest payments falling due, worth USD 37.9 million, related to foreign public debt, direct and bearing the sovereign guarantee of the Ministry of Finance;
- redemption of foreign exchange-denominated government securities issued by the Ministry of Finance on the domestic market, worth USD 120.6 million;
- other net inflows (change in foreign exchange reserve requirements met by commercial banks, interest on bank investments, surrender of foreign exchange to official reserves, fees and bank commissions, a. o.), in amount of USD 19.1 million.
The gold stock rose to 103.6 tons, but owing to developments in the price of gold on foreign markets, its value fell to USD 919.2 million, leaving the NBR's foreign reserves (gold included) at over USD 2.5 billion.
By the end of 2000, the payments falling due related to external and domestic public debt (in foreign exchange), direct and bearing the sovereign guarantee of the Ministry of Finance, will run at USD 998 million, of which redemption of foreign exchange-denominated government securities issued on the domestic market will amount to USD 186 million.
The National Bank of Romania is further striving to build reserve assets and ensure timely repayment of the foreign public debt service.