“We certainly would like the central bank to be cautious in their monetary policy going forward. And the reason why we would advise caution is that we are concerned about the possibility of renewed pressure on the exchange rate and renewed capital outflows,” said Jeffrey Franks, chief of the IMF mission to Romania.
Franks refrained from speculating about specific action that the central bank should take, but reiterated his recommendation for a cautious approach.
The Romanian leu has been more resilient against the euro compared with its peers in the region in the past few months, but market participants suspect the central bank has stepped into the market to prevent a sharp depreciation of the national currency.
Wednesday, the leu’s reference was set at 4.3405 per euro, the strongest rate since September.