BELGRADE (Serbia), January 11 (SeeNews) – Serbia's central bank, NBS, said on Thursday it has decided to put the Bulgarian lev and the Romanian leu on its list of currencies traded on the foreign exchange market as of February 1.
In making this decision, the executive board of the central bank was guided by the important role of Bulgaria and Romania in the foreign trade of Serbia, as well as the potential for strengthening and enhancing the economic cooperation with the two countries, the NBS said in a statement.
The high number of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens visiting Serbia has also been taken into account when making the decision. Moreover, both Bulgaria and Romania have investment-grade sovereign credit ratings and are members of the European Union, the NBS said.
Serbia's central bank has also allowed banks to trade Hungarian forint, Polish zloty, Czech crown, Bosnian marka and Croatian kuna on the foreign exchange market. Serbian anks have been able to trade those currencies only in cash so far.
In the eleven months through November Serbia's exports to Bulgaria rose 54% on the year to $596.2 million (494.9 million euro), and imports went up 31% to $429.6 million. The exports to Romania went down 1.5% to 760.4 million, while imports increased 18% to 585.1 million in the period under review, according to data of Serbia's statistical office.
($=0.8301 euro)