November 21 (SeeNews) - The Romanian leu has continued to weaken on Thursday, hitting a new all-time low against the euro, central bank data showed.
Romania's central bank, BNR, set its reference exchange rate at 4.7808 lei ($1.1/1.0 euro) per euro on Thursday, 0.07% weaker than 4.7776 lei per euro on Wednesday.
"Romanian leu remains under depreciation pressure these days, printing another historical high fixing yesterday and testing above 4.7800. This has somewhat stirred the market which has been reflected in the increased turnover. Today’s big question is whether the pair will print above 4.7800 which could shift the entire trading range higher," ING Bank analysts said on Thursday morning in a daily market analysis.
On Thursday morning, the leu changed hands between 4.7810 and 4.7817 per euro, according to real-time interbank forex trading data published by information portal Conso.ro.
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 weaeken last week amidst a political row over public finances.
Former Social Democrat finance minister Eugen Teodorovici said on Thursday that the leu's fall was prompted by what he described as alarmist statements about an allegedly precarious state of public finances made by the new government formed by National Liberal Party (PNL). The new finance minister, Florin Citu, said earlier 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=4.7808 lei)