The dinar will continue to slide for the fifth consecutive day on Friday, despite an intervention by the central bank which sold EUR 68.5 million on the foreign exchange market, hitting a record low official middle exchange rate of RSD 109.1794 for one euro, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has announced.

At noon Thursday, the indicative exchange rate was RSD 109.3120 for one euro and the NBS intervened selling EUR 68.5 million on the interbank foreign exchange market in order to alleviate excessive daily fluctuation in the exchange rate.

The NBS said Thursday that the foreign exchange market has been driven in the last few days by increased demand for foreign currency from Serbian companies, primarily due to increased import of fuel, and, in the last two days, has also been significantly affected by psychological factors.

The central bank said it was prepared to do everything needed to prevent excessive short-term fluctuation and ensure the stability of the foreign exchange market in Serbia.

"Foreign exchange reserves, which totaled EUR 12.1 billion at the beginning of the year, are more than a sufficient guarantee of our ability to do that," NBS said in the release.

On Friday, the dinar will weaken 0.7 percent against the euro compared to Thursday, 4.7 percent compared to one month ago, and 5.4 percent at an annual level.

The indicative dinar versus dollar exchange rate was down 0.6 percent Thursday and totaled RSD 82.0219 for one dollar, slipping 0.8 percent on a monthly and eight percent on an annual level.