As long as the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) has the freedom to fulfill its duties, in accordance with the law, objective factors influence the exchange rate, not the wishes of politicians who, before the elections, want to make presents to the citizens or to transform the country into an industrial building site, expert Igor Boțan said, commenting on political statements that the exchange rate should have been modified in favor of particular economic groups. The expert developed the issue in IPN’s public debate “Fluctuation of exchange rate, what it depends on and what we should know about it?”
Igor Boțan considers the given statements were an attempt to see the reactions of representatives of international financial institutions and the National Bank, which actually appeared without delay. Afterward, things returned to normality. The message that the National Bank should remain an independent institution has considerable influence. “We saw all these things. They persisted and were overcome and things are now more or less normal, but this normality framework has its own margin of fluctuation,” stated the expert.
According to Igor Boțan, as long as the National Bank of Moldova is independent, with a relatively developed legislation, Moldova’s economy is an open one. “So, the situation should be regarded as a cyber-system, which is all the factors that influence the economy and, respectively, the people’s interests should be taken into account,” he said, noting he does not think the currency exchange facilities act as they want as the exchange rate is set by the NBM.
The expert said the Moldovans who have savings in lei are used to see stable prices before the winter holidays. But those who receive remittances and want to go to currency exchange facilities feel discomfort if the exchange rate deviates from their expectations. But this oscillation is seasonal and everyone should understand that the economic health of the Republic of Moldova is the main thing that should be taken into account by the NBM, by the political class and by the public. If the fluctuations are within admissible limits, things are under control.
In general, the expert recommends the citizens working in the economic sector to increase labor productivity as this keeps the business entity afloat. The rest, especially those who have savings, should keep these in national currency, on condition that the National Bank indeed does its job and continues maintaining the stability of prices.
Igor Boțan believes a good solution is to also diversify savings in different currencies.
The public debate “Fluctuation of exchange rate, what it depends on and what we should know about it?” was the 162th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation
