December 22 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu closed tad weaker against the euro on Tuesday amid high volumes, as the market is waiting for the parliament's vote on the country’s new cabinet, due on Wednesday, dealers said.
On Sunday Prime Minister-designate Emil Boc unveiled his cabinet line-up, in which his Democratic Liberal Party, PD-L, holds seven out of 17 ministerial posts. Hungarian minority party, UDMR, has four nominations, including the party head Marko Bela as deputy Prime Minister. The proposed cabinet has five independent members. It seems that Boc, whose government fell in a no-confidence vote in October, has garnered enough support in the legislature to ensure the approval of the proposed cabinet.
The leu closed at 4.2180/2230 per euro versus 4.2175/2190 per euro on Monday.
It seems that the market is expecting the parliament's endorsment of the new government, one dealer told SeeNews. She added that the leu was traded amid high volumes on Tuesday as local players dominated the session.
The country needs a new government fast in order to put an end to a two month-old political deadlock and restart key reforms of the economy and the justice system. These conditions are vital for winning back the trust of international lenders, a key condition for the release of the next instalments of a 20-billion euro bailout package led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.2268 lei per euro on Tuesday, compared to 4.2119 on Monday. For the U.S. dollar, the BNR set its reference exchange rate at 2.9539 lei versus Monday’s 2.9368.
Turnover on the interbank leu deposit market rose to 2.386 billion lei on Monday from 2.244 billion lei on Friday. The BNR will issue Tuesday’s turnover figures on Wednesday.
Interest rates on overnight leu deposits fell to 9.30%/9.80% on Tuesday from 11.18%/11.68% on Monday.