MOLDOVAN CURRENCY RESERVE GREW US$64.44 MILLION LAST YEAR

The official reserve of the National Bank of Moldova exceeded US$2,875 million as of the end of 2019.

According to the NBM official data, over a month the reserve grew US$4.09 million, while year to date - US$64.44 million.

The growth in December was mostly due to the growth in the reserve currency exchange rate against the US dollar - US$17.10 million; getting by the MoF of credits, loans and grants for implementing investment projects - US$4.72 million; revenues from hard-currency reserve administration - US$3.75 million.

At the same time, the following factors influenced the lowering of official reserve assets: Ministry of Finance's external payments - US$4.12 million; net outflow on mandatory bank reserve in foreign currency - US$2.09 million.

Over 2019, considerable fluctuations of currency reserve were registered, for example, it fell to less than US$2.78 billion in early March from US$3 million at the beginning of the year. This was due to NBM interventions on the currency market before the February 24 parliamentary elections.

Later, the currency reserve was replenished with both tranches from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the interventions in the market. In late October, it again crossed the threshold of US$3 billion, while on December 15 - broke its previous record, reaching US$3,065 million.