Romania’s National Bank – BNR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to EUR 31.6 billion at the end of January 2016, down by EUR 559 million compared to the end of December 2015, according to BNR.

In January, the inflows amounted to EUR 1.05 billion. They included money transferred to the Finance Ministry’s account and the European Commission’s account.

The outflows totaled EUR 1.61 billion and included the last installment payment on the EUR 13 billion loan concluded with IMF in 2009, which amounted to EUR 122 million.

The outflows also reflected the lower minimum reserve ratio for the local banks’ foreign currency liabilities. BNR reduced the minimum reserve ratio from 14% to 12%, allowing the commercial banks to withdraw some EUR 500 million from their accounts at the central bank.

The gold reserve stood at 103.7 tons, and its value amounted to EUR 3.4 billion.

editor@romania-insider.com