According to the National Bank of Moldova, including in January, the reserves “lost weight” by 83 million euros, in February – by 30 million euros and in March – by 83 million euros.
As of March 31, foreign exchange reserves amounted to 5,050 million euros against 5,134 million on February 28 and 5,247 million euros on December 31, 2024.
As explained by economic expert Volodymyr Golovatyuk, the main reasons for the decrease in reserves are the servicing of foreign debt, the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the euro and insignificant volumes of foreign loans and grants.
In Q1 of this year, 133 million euros were spent on servicing the external debt from the reserves. And due to the strengthening of the European currency, the reserves lost 82 million euros.
At the same time, the government received loans for investment projects worth 14 million euros, a loan for budget support from the IMF 13.6 million euros, a grant from the German government for electricity compensation of 33 million euros.
In total, loans and grants totaling 64 million euros were received.
For comparison, in Q1 last year, foreign exchange reserves increased by €98 million.
Overall, in 2024, official foreign exchange reserves in euros increased by 344 million.
