The foreign currency reserves held by Romania's National Bank (BNR) decreased by EUR 1.14 billion in January to EUR 31.92 billion.

The reserves dropped toward 4.5 months of imports, which is not out of the safe range yet.

The outflows were reported at EUR 2.72 billion, out of which EUR 1.04 billion were payments made for the external debt service of the government. Part of the rest of EUR 1.68 billion might have been spent by BNR for supporting the local currency (RON) against a faster weakening versus the euro.

The inflows were EUR 1.57 billion, thanks to EUR 970 million transferred from the European Union’s budget to the Government’s accounts.

At the end of November 2018, the foreign currency reserves expressed in months of imports of goods and services stood at 4.8, as compared to 5.4 months at end-2017. The figure must have further deteriorated as the stock of reserves went down and the volume of imports kept rising.

The external debt service in February stands at a moderate value of EUR 247 million.

editor@romania-insider.com

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