November 19 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu has continued to weaken on Tuesday, hitting a new all-time low against the euro, central bank data showed.
Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.7759 lei ($1.1/1.0 euro) per euro on Tuesday, 0.06% weaker than 4.7729 lei per euro on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, the leu changed hands between 4.7722 and 4.7749 per euro, according to real-time interbank forex trading data published by information portal Conso.ro.
"Somewhat earlier than we expected, the EUR/RON broke above 4.7700 yesterday, on average turnover. Thus, the pair printed a new all-time high fixing rate, though this didn’t seem to stir the market too much. For today, we could see a consolidation within the 4.7700-4.7800 range," ING Bank analysts said on Tuesday in a daily market analysis.
ING analysts said they maintain their already long standing forecast of 4.8 lei per euro for end-2019.
CFA Romania, an association of investment professionals, said last month that they expect an exchange rate of 4.7967 lei per euro in the next six months and 4.8471 lei per euro in the next 12 months.
The local currency started to lose last week amidst a political row over public finances.
Former Social Democrat finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said on Thursday that the leu has weakened following what he described as alarmist statements about an allegedly precarious state of public finances made by the new, National Liberal Party (PNL) government.
Romania's new finance minister, Florin Citu, said that the budget gap could widen to 4% of gross domestic product this year and accused Teodorovici of deliberately faking numbers.
The PNL government took office earlier this month after the Social Democrat cabinet led by Viorica Dancila lost a no-confidence vote on October 10. The vote was requested by PNL who accused the Dancila government of incompetence.
(1 euro=4.7759 lei)