The evolution of the euro on the international currency markets will lead to a significant appreciation of the euro against the Moldovan leu the coming days, the National Bank of Moldova said, quoted by IPN.

The central bank noted that in a recent meeting centering on the monetary policy, the European Central Bank decided that the interest rate on deposits will be decreased by 0.1 percentage points to minus 0.3%, while the base rate and the interest rate on loans will be maintained at 0.05% and 0.3% respectively. It also decided to extend the quantitative easing program to the value of €60 billion a month until March 2017, with the possibility of prolongation.

As a result of these decisions, the euro appreciated significantly against the US dollar. On December 3, the National Bank of Moldova set the official exchange rate of the Moldovan leu against the dollar for December 4 at 20.0187 lei and against the euro at 21.1188 lei, the latter one being determined by the ratio of the euro to the dollar on the foreign exchange market on December 3.

At 9am on December 4, one euro cost 1.0920 USD on the international currency markets. Thus, compared with December 3, the euro appreciated by 3.5% against the dollar.

The central bank said the volatility of the euro on the international markets remains high and the euro could yet depreciate against the US dollar in the coming period.