Romania's currency weakened to new lows against the euro on September 23, after the Parliament endorsed the 40% pension hike that risks undermining the already fragile public sector budget.

The depreciation was rather small, only 0.1% - but enough to push the exchange rate over the RON 4.86 to EUR benchmark to a new all-time low value of the currency versus the single European currency, Agerpres reported.

According to Romania's National Bank (BNR), the European currency was quoted at RON 4.8641, compared to the previous high of RON 4.8595 on September 17.

This is the third all-time high for the European currency in September.

The US dollar was quoted at RON 4.1528, the Swiss franc at RON 4.5153, and the GBP at RON 5.2908.

Under the latest CFA Romania poll, the Romanian financial analysts projected that the euro would reach RON 5 by the end of March 2021 and that the downward trend of the Romanian currency against the euro will continue afterward.

(Photo: Henning Macquardt/ Dreamstime)

andrei@romania-insider.com