Romanian Leu Stays Near 5.24 Lei/EU Amid Fed Policy, Bond Sale

The Romanian leu hovered in the 5.236‑5.24 lei per euro band early this week, after the euro briefly touched a historic high of 5.2688 lei on May 6. The stability came despite ongoing regional tensions and a focus on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its policy rate at 3.50‑3.75 %, with officials signalling a possible hike later in the year as U.S. consumer‑price inflation stayed at 4.2%, above the 2% target.

In parallel, the Romanian Treasury issued new state bonds: a July 2031 issue of 719.7 million lei at a 6.65% annual yield and an October 2036 issue of 586.5 million lei at 6.90%. A July 2030 auction attracted over 1.3 billion lei in bids, allowing the Finance Ministry to raise 975.1 million lei at a 6.59% average yield. Domestic interest benchmarks slipped modestly, with the three‑month ROBOR index moving from 5.84% to 5.83% and the six‑month and twelve‑month rates remaining at 5.92% and 5.97% respectively. The U.S. dollar traded around 4.57 lei, gold prices fell to about 618 lei per gram, and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin hovered near $63‑65 k.