MDL climbs against USD

The official average exchange rate of the MDL (Moldovan Leu) against the US dollar has increased from MDL 12.83 for USD 1 in February to MDL 12.67 per USD 1 in March 2007. At the end of March compared with December 2006, the MDL increased against the USD by 3.1%, and by 4.02% in real terms. The total volume of dollars transacted on the interbank market by the banks constituted USD 71 mln in March 2007, increasing by USD 37.9 mln USD against last month. During the reported period, the operations by the National Bank of Moldova were valued at USD 10.5 mln, including currency swap transactions – USD 0.6 mln. The official exchange rate of the MDL against the EUR dropped from MDL 16.75 per EUR 1 in February 2007 to MDL 16.78 per EUR 1 in March 2007. The average official rate of the MDL against the RUB increased from MDL 0.4870 per RUB 1 in February 2007 to MDL 0.4855 per RUB 1 in March 2007. The total turnover of the sale/purchase transactions against MDL of the main foreign currencies in March 2007 on the domestic market rose by USD 617.2 mln, increasing by 27.8% compared with February 2007 (USD 482.9 mln). Compared with February 2007, in the reported period the share of the turnover in USD has diminished by 1.1 percentage points, and the share of the turnover in EUR increased by 0.5 percentage points. The purchaes against MDL of the main foreign currencies on the internal market totalled USD 291.1 mln and the sales – USD 326.1 mln, increasing by 20.1 and 35.6%. Of the total volume of turnover, the transactions in USD constituted 62.4%, in EUR – 33.6%, in RUB – 3.3%, in RON – 0.3% in HRU – 0.4%