June 3 (SeeNews) - The foreign exchange reserves held by Romania's central bank, excluding gold, totalled 32.834 billion euro ($36.682 billion) at the end of May, down from 33.690 billion euro a month earlier, the central bank said on Monday.
Foreign exchange inflows amounted to 1.111 billion euro in May, representing mainly changes in credit institutions’ foreign currency-denominated required reserves and inflows into the finance ministry's and European Commission’s accounts, the central bank, BNR, said in a statement.
Foreign exchange outflows totalled 1.967 billion euro, representing changes in the banks’ foreign currency-denominated required reserves, interest payments and principal repayments on foreign currency-denominated public debt and other. Interest payments and principal repayments on foreign currency public debt amounted to approximately 1.186 billion euro, of which principal repayments and interest payments to the European Commission by the finance ministry came in at 1.039 billion euro.
The gold reserves of the central bank remained unchanged at 103.7 tonnes and were worth 3.881 billion euro at current international prices at the end of May.
The international reserves of Romania, including foreign currencies and gold, totalled 36.715 billion euro as of end-May, down from 37.510 billion euro a month earlier.
Romania will have to pay approximately 104 million euro on its public and publicly guaranteed foreign currency-denominated debt in June.
In April, Romania's lower chamber of parliament passed a bill that would require the central bank to repatriate its gold reserves held abroad. The Romanian central bank has warned that the European Central Bank (ECB) should give the green light to the plan before it moves ahead.
($=0.8926 euro)