Romania: The Leu

Currency

1999
- Romania’s currency fell 6.5% towards the end of the year
-Throughout the whole year, it has lost about 1/3 of its value
-An IMF bailout was agreed to earlier this year but with the country’s careless banking reforms and slow privatization programs have delayed the bailout.
-the country owed over $2.8 billion in public and private debt
-since the beginning of the year, the leu lost 29% of its value against the dollar

2001
-Romania officially submitted to the EU council its negotiating position on Economic and Monetary Union in the beginning of November.
-They had a goal to reduce inflation to under 10% by 2004
-another goal was to make the euro the only exchange currency for the leu

2002
-at the beginning of the year, 31,600 lei equaled US$1
-In early April, 32,860 lei equaled US$1
-In late June, 33,300 lei equaled US$1

2005
- the leu plummeted in value from 21 to the dollar in 1990 to 29,890 lei to the dollar the day before the changeover
-leu means lion in Romania
-the new leu is worth about $.34 and is equal to 10,000 units of the old currency
-inflation fell to 7.5%

2007
-the leu fell 1.2% against the euro and 1.4% against the dollar
-the currency has declined since early July

2008
-the leu sharply appreciated against the euro and the dollar until early July and then steadily declined

2009
-the leu has lost more than 17.5 percent against the euro
-the country received a 20 billion-euro loan led by the IMF
-the IMF predicts that Romania’s economy will shrink by at least 4 percent this year after a growth of 7.1 percent last year

Works Cited
http://www.google.com/search?q=romania+currency+history&hl=en&tbs=tl:1&tbo=1&ei=cspISqVSlI22B_7_2ZAG&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11