Demand of currency sharply increases in Moldova before elections, economic expert says
16:29 | 18.02.2019 Category: Economic
Chisinau, 18 February /MOLDPRES/ - The currency reserves of the National Bank of Moldova (BNM) last week continued to drop by another 33 million dollars and since early 2019, they have already diminished by 130 million dollars. Economic expert Veaceslav Ionita has unveiled data to this effect.
Ionita wrote in a posting on his personal blog that these cuts of reserves had been anticipated by experts back in the last summer, as before elections, the demand of currency increases sharply and the supply remains relatively constant.
According to Ionita, this increase in the demand of currency is explained by several factors, the main of them being the increase in residents’ consumption and inclination of economic agents towards currency before the polls.
The expert specified that BNM’s strong interventions in 2019 had changed the general trend and the Moldovan leu was already registering a substantial appreciation against the euro and the dollar. On this period, the Moldovan national currency has appreciated by 1.3 per cent against the euro and dollar.
Experts said that BNM must have a more relaxed policy towards the currency exchange rate, intervene more prudently on the currency market and ensure a stability of the exchange rate, with slight tendencies of depreciation, which would save some of the BNM currency reserves.
