Romania’s RON falls to fresh all-time low vs. EUR for 4th day in a row, approaches 4.7/EUR

Romania’s currency, RON, has reached on Friday a fresh all-time low against the European single currency for the fourth day in a row, the exchange rate rising to 4.6975/EUR, National Bank of Romania (BNR) data show.

On Thursday, the reference exchange rate was RON 4.6890/EUR, also an all-time low.

Experts warn that RON’s depreciation is normal due to large current account and fiscal deficits but expects the central bank to step in.

“It remains to be seen if, at this level, we will have the first “line in the sand” from the central bank, which so far has only smoothed the Romanian leu’s weakening trend. For now, we tend to believe that some consolidation at higher levels could occur after the move seen since the beginning of the year,” ING Bank analysts said on Friday.

On Monday, the central bank eased the pressure on RON through an unexpected deposit tender of RON 12.9 billion, reducing the excess liquidity in the market.

US dollar gained 0.16 percent to 4.1192 RON.

Romania’s three-month money market rate (ROBOR), the main indicator that sets the interest rates for RON currency borrowers, rose on Friday to 2.93 percent.