Foreign exchange inflows dropped to EUR888 million in August, from EUR1.83 billion in July, while total outflows rose to EUR2.07 billion, from EUR787 million in the previous month.
Outflows included the equivalent of around EUR1 billion representing the payment of the ninth and 10th principal installments and interests on an EUR13 billion loan Romania and the International Monetary Fund signed in 2009, as well as the repayment of a Eurobond issue that matured in August.
Romania’s payments to the IMF reached the equivalent of EUR3.22 billion in the first eight months of 2013, with another EUR1.7 billion to be paid by the end of the year.
The central bank’s gold holdings were steady at 103.7 metric tons, but their value adjusted for international gold price rose to EUR3.5 billion, from EUR3.34 billion in July.
Romania’s overall international reserves were at EUR35.68 billion in August, down from EUR36.7 billion a month earlier.