Moldovan leu continues to depreciate

Chisinau, 14 January /MOLDPRES/ - The national currency continues to depreciate against major currencies and the evolution of the exchange quotations displayed shows a trend of depreciation. For those who want to buy dollars today, rates are situated between 16.70 and 17.25 lei per dollar, and the selling price for the single European currency, set by commercial banks and exchange offices, is of at least 19.69 lei and a maximum of 20.35 lei for one euro.

For today, the National Bank of Moldova (BNM) established an official exchange rate of 16.2134 lei for one dollar, up by 0.19 lei against 13 January.

Since early 2015, the Moldovan leu has depreciated by 3.8 per cent against the US dollar after a devaluation of 19.6 per cent last year.

"The US economy is reviving. The European economy is in a recession, the risk of deflation is also present, and obviously this has an impact especially on the euro and other currencies in the region. In  the aforementioned period there is a greater demand  on behalf of economic agents. This is a seasonal factor. The currency supply from private people is much lower than last year. During the first 11 months of 2014, the supply of currency dropped by 23 per cent, while demand remained virtually unchanged and had a practically insignificant decrease", commented BNM Operations Department Head Lucia Hadirca on the evolution of the leu/dollar exchange rates.

According to her, since the beginning of the year, the Russian ruble has depreciated by ten per cent, which has an impact on the Moldovan market. BNM informed that it was keeping a close eye on the currency market and would intervene, if necessary.