NBS foreign exchange reserves declined by EUR 400.9 million in July, reaching at the end of the month EUR 10,091.9 million or USD 13,196.2 million.

Net foreign exchange reserves, defined as foreign exchange reserves less banks’ foreign exchange balances on accounts with the NBS and drawings from the IMF, equalled EUR 5,253 million.

The ratio of foreign exchange reserves to money supply (M1) was 444.0 percent. Foreign exchange reserves covered 8 months of imports of goods and services.

Together with foreign exchange reserves of commercial banks (EUR 1,269.2 million on 31 July), the country’s overall foreign exchange reserves stood at EUR 11,361.1 million or USD 14,855.8 million.

The strongest impact on the decline in NBS foreign exchange reserves came from the NBS sale of foreign exchange in the IFEM (EUR 231.0 million).

Other July outflows came from the settlement of liabilities under frozen foreign currency savings (EUR 16.4 million) and liabilities to foreign creditors (EUR 12.6 million).

July inflows into NBS foreign exchange reserves came from the disbursement of the EIB loan (EUR 28.2 million).

The volume of trading in the IFEM in July reached EUR 718.6 million, down by EUR 239 million from the previous month. In the year to July, total interbank trading amounted to EUR 5,358.8 million.

In order to bolster trading in the FX market and mitigate excessive daily volatility of the dinar against the euro, the NBS sold in the IFEM EUR 231 million.

The dinar depreciated against the euro by 1.75% in nominal terms in July.