currency

The Romanian leu edged higher against the euro in mid-trade Wednesday, mirroring the currencies in the region, and the central bank’s reference gained 0.2% on the day at RON4.0821, the strongest rate in over six weeks.

The Romanian leu widened its gains against the euro in late trade Friday and touched a fresh one-year high at RON4.0965 to the European currency toward closing, fueled by heavy forex sales from foreigners.

The leu extended gains against the euro Wednesday, bucking the regional trend, on foreign players' high demand for the local currency, despite the unexpected key rate cut announced Tuesday by Romania's central bank.

Romanian leu closed higher against the euro Monday, unlike currencies in the region, which lost their earlier gains and ended 0.1%-0.3% weaker on the day.

Without the EUR20 billion aid package obtained in the spring, Romania might have been unable to prevent growing pressure on the leu, which in turn would have negatively impacted inflation and the leu-denominated household financial assets, central bank’s governor Mugur Isarescu said.

All banks in Romania will apply, as of Tuesday, increased provisions for loans granted in foreign currency to clients with income in other currencies, according to the director of the Surveillance Department within the Romanian central bank, Nicolae Cinteza.