BNM about national reserve: safety over profit

“The National Bank of Moldova has a balanced system of managing the national reserve’s placement risk. We place them in countries or foreign banks with the lowest risk”. The statement was made a press conference by the BNM governor Dorin Dragutanu, Info-Prim Neo reports. “It’s true this balanced management brings less income, but for us, safety and liquidity matter more than the income obtained from placements”, declared the governor. Part of the reserve, although an insignificant one, is kept in Swiss francs. “Many countries find the Swiss franc a low-risk currency and invested in it, which led to its overappreciation. The Central Swiss Bank announced that the Swiss franc is overestimated by 40%, which is a massive blow to Swiss exporters. The Bank announced it would intervene in the exchange market through massive sales of francs in order to depreciate this currency. As a result, those who invested in it, will lose a lot”, said the governor. Dorin Dragutanu stressed it was impossible to fully avoid financial risk at this time, regardless of the currency in which national reserve or individual savings are stored. Any decision must be coherent, thoroughly thought, based on detailed information, not on other institutions’ examples. Dragutanu spoke about the gold reserve as well, saying that BNM was a young bank that didn’t inherit stocks of gold. “We must realize gold isn’t necessarily always gold. Today it costs $1,600 an ounce, tomorrow it rises to $2,000 and you gain a profit. But if it devalues, you lose. Gold is exposed to risks as well. You store it in the treasury or in a foreign bank’s treasury and you hope that bank doesn’t go bankrupt and the country defaults. Even if this doesn’t happen, we still don’t gain anything and international gold transactions are very well regulated. That’s not to mention the expenses of transporting gold and security measures. That costs”, explained Dorin Dragutanu. BNM analyzes the opportunity of diversifying the country’s currency reserves and considers creating a gold stock. “We’re still researching, analyzing the experience of other central banks and we could adopt a decision later”, said the BNM governor. The BNM currency reserve is estimated at $2 billion.