OREANDA-NEWS. January 11, 2012. Moldova's official reserve assets increased by 248 million dollars, reaching 1,965.300 million dollars in late 2011, against 1,717.690 million dollars in late 2010, according to data provided by the National Bank of Moldova (BNM).

The increase was due to the consolidation of the exchange rates of the reserves' component currencies against the dollar, the currency entries from the International Monetary Fund and the good management of the official reserve assets.

The maximal historical sum was reached on 26 August 2011, when the reserves stood at 2 billion 18.9 million dollars. The BNM said that in late October, the official reserve assets amounted to 2 billion 9.3 million dollars. Yet, the euro's floating exchange rate led to a slight decrease in the currency reserves. About 40 per cent of the National Bank of Moldova's currency reserves is kept in Euros.

The consolidation of the currency reserves is important for coping with an eventual economic crisis triggered by the debt crisis in the European Union and all over the world, BNM Governor Dorin Dragutanu has told MOLDPRES.

The governor also said the official reserve assets will increase even more since an ordinary 77-million-dollar-worth instalment is expected to enter the National Bank's account in early 2012.

The historical threshold of 1 billion dollars of official reserve assets was exceeded in 2007. At the same time, the pre-crisis record high was registered in September 2008, when the reserves exceeded 1.8 billion dollars. The BNM's subsequent massive intervention on the market, in order to diminish the Moldovan leu's exchange rate, led to a considerable cut in the currency reserves, which dropped under 1.2 billion lei in August 2009.

Although financial experts have forecast currency reserves over 2 billion lei by late 2011, the euro's floating exchange rate against the US dollar triggered by the national debts of some EU countries, has affected the growth of the official reserve assets.