Currency offer led to appreciation of national currency

Chisinau, 7 August /MOLDPRES/- MDL has been continuously appreciating for 32 consecutive months. The national currency appreciated by 23 percent, from 20.31 lei per US dollar in January 2016 to 16.53 in the first week of August. The net foreign exchange offer that has far exceeded demand led to the strengthening of lei, according to Economist Veaceslav Ionita.

According to the expert, in 2016-2018 (second quarter) net foreign exchange supply was 665 million US dollars higher than demand. This "was due to the accelerated growth of supply from individuals than demand for foreign currency from legal entities. This excessive offer led to the appreciation of the national currency. "

Ionita said that it is difficult to predict the evolution of the exchange rate in the next period, as we will see two phenomena with opposite effects. Firstly, the law on capital amnesty will most likely generate new inflows of currency in the market and increase the supply of foreign currency. Secondly, the experience of the last 15 years shows that some players decide to withdraw the currency from the market and create a high demand around the election. He believes “these two opposite tendencies will offset each other and finally we will not see any major disturbances on the foreign exchange market."

In his opinion, the MDL will have a stable rate with a slight appreciation against US dollar and euro until the parliamentary elections in February 2019.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)