Romania’s forex reserves down 3.4 pct in April to EUR 33.5 bln on EU loan repayments

The foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) stood at EUR 33.539 billion on March 31, down 3.4 percent from the previous month, due mainly to repayments on the European Commission’s loan granted to Romania in 2009, according to a central bank press release.

The central bank said that during the month EUR 589 million worth of inflows were recorded, representing changes in credit institutions’ foreign currency-denominated required reserves, inflows into the Ministry of Finance’s accounts, inflows into the European Commission’s account and other.

The outflows reached EUR 1.776 billion, representing changes in credit institutions’ foreign currency-denominated required reserves, interest payments and principal repayments on foreign currency public debt and other.

“Interest payments and principal repayments on foreign currency public debt amounted to approximately EUR 1.416 million, of which principal repayments and interest payments on the European Commission’s loan granted to the Ministry of Public Finance in 2009 came in at EUR 1.239 million,” the central bank said.

The gold stock remained unchanged at 103.7 tonnes, but its value increased slightly to EUR 3.63 billon, according to the BNR.