The Romanian currency leu – RON – went down to a new low today (July 18 ), when the official rate against the EUR was of RON 4.5647,   slightly lower than the historic low yesterday. The previous rate on Tuesday was of RON 4.5651, and the new figures follow a string of record lows for the leu.

The RON/USD rate also fluctuated. The latest official rate was of RON 3.7309 for the USD.

The dealers say that the downward pressure continues and the central bank will not take aggressive measures to combat this tendency, allowing instead a gradual increase of the rate.

The RON started to weaken three weeks ago, when political tensions escalated between the main political parties in Romania and the suspension of the country's president was followed by more exchange rate turmoil.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com