Romanian currency weakened on concern the nations’ banking industries would be rocked by the contagion from a Greek exit of the euro region. Bulgarian bonds follow the same trend, sliding the most in eastern Europe, Bloomberg.com informs.
The scale of the exposure led Royal Bank of Scotland Plc to cut Romania and Bulgaria to the equivalent of sell on Monday.
Yields on Bulgaria’s EUR 1.49 billion of notes due in September 2024 rose the most since they were sold in 2014 and the Romania leu weakened 0.5 percent against the euro. The Romanian currency has depreciated against the euro to 4.4931 units, from RON 4.4577 for one euro on Friday and against the dollar it was exceeded the threshold of RON 4, according to the official exchange rate of National Bank of Romania (BNR), after the events in Greece. A dollar was quoted on Friday at RON 3.9783.
The four largest Greek banks are present on the local market through Alpha Bank Romania, Piraeus Bank Romania, Bancpost Romanian Bank. Piraeus officials announced Monday that it does not apply any limitation of bank’s operations in Romania and also there are not implemented capital control policies.
Moreover, the Bank Employers’ Council of Romania (CPBR) estimates that no matter what measures will be taken in Greece these days, the impact on the Romanian market will remain limited.
In their turn, Polish, Hungarian and Russian currencies lost at least 0.4 percent, leading declines in emerging markets, and regional stocks retreated.