The National Bank of Moldova

The base rate is the reference rate for the main short-term monetary policy operations. Around it, the NBM builds a symmetric corridor of two percentage points up and down: the lending facility above, the deposit facility below.

A few terms explained briefly. Required reserves are the portion of attracted deposits that banks must hold at the NBM. Overnight operations are loans or deposits placed for a single night. Repo operations are short-term loans secured by securities.

When the NBM raises the base rate, loans in Moldovan lei become more expensive, deposits and government securities yields become more attractive, and the Moldovan leu tends to strengthen against foreign currency. When it lowers the rate, the effect is the opposite. The same logic explains why government securities yields rise or fall along with the decision.

The NBM sets the official exchange rate of the Moldovan leu, whose currency code is MDL. This rate is a reference rate, published on every working day.

How the official rate is formed

The official rate is not fixed arbitrarily, but calculated. Since January 2, 2025, the reference currency of the Moldovan leu is the euro, which replaced the US dollar. For the euro, the NBM takes the weighted average of actual euro-against-Moldovan-lei transactions on Moldova's foreign exchange market, weighted by traded volumes.

For other currencies, such as the dollar, the rate does not come from within Moldova. The NBM obtains it by combining the official EUR/MDL rate with the international rate between that currency and the euro, taken from the global market through systems such as Bloomberg or Reuters. This way, the Moldovan-lei portion comes from the local market, while the ratio between the two currencies comes from the international foreign exchange market. The rate is published every working day and is valid from the following day, for more than 40 currencies.

This is a reference rate. Commercial banks apply their own buying and selling rates, and the difference between them, called the spread, represents the bank's margin. That's why the rate at the bank differs from the official one.

What moves the Moldovan leu

Several factors act on the exchange rate: the trade balance, diaspora remittances (a major factor for Moldova, since they bring in significant euro and dollar inflows), NBM monetary policy, domestic and external inflation, energy prices, foreign investment, and the regional geopolitical context. The NBM can intervene in the market by buying or selling currency, and it manages the country's foreign currency reserves.

The live exchange rate and a converter are available on the Exchange rate page.

Government securities (GS) are debt instruments issued by the state. The issuer is the Ministry of Finance, and the NBM acts as fiscal agent, meaning it manages the market through which these securities reach investors.

How to actually buy, what yields, and what tax regime applies, you'll find on the dedicated eVMS page. Who issues government securities and what public debt looks like, you'll find on the Ministry of Finance page. The auction mechanics, through which securities reach the market, you'll see in the next chapter.

This is the NBM's most concrete role on the local capital market. Government securities are not bought directly from the Ministry of Finance, but through auctions organized by the NBM on the primary market.

The NBM, fiscal agent of the state

The NBM manages the primary market for government securities as agent of the Ministry of Finance, based on an agency agreement. The NBM organizes and conducts the auctions, but does not issue the securities. The issuer remains the Ministry of Finance. The GS market has operated since March 1995.

The auction calendar

Auctions are usually held in the first and third week of the month: Tuesdays for treasury bills (short-term) and Wednesdays for government bonds (medium- and long-term). The indicative calendar is approved quarterly by the Ministry of Finance.

Types of bids

How the interest rate is set

Competitive bids are awarded using the multiple-price method: each winning bid is executed at its own bid price. Non-competitive bids are executed at the weighted average price resulting from the accepted competitive bids. The Ministry of Finance decides what volume to accept, and this determines the level of the awarded interest rate.

Primary dealers and settlement

An investor, whether an individual or a legal entity, does not participate directly in the auction, but through a primary dealer, meaning a bank licensed for such operations. Settlement and the record of securities are handled through the Single Central Securities Depository (DCU), where holdings are registered.

Where to see the results

The auction calendar and the placement result statements are published, after each auction, on the official pages of the Ministry of Finance and the NBM.

The NBM licenses and supervises banks in Moldova and sets the required reserve rules. Since July 1, 2023, under Law 178/2020, the NBM also took over from the NCFM the supervision of other sectors: insurers, non-bank lending organizations (OCN), and savings and loan associations (AEI).

For a market participant, the stability of the financial system is the foundation on which savings, bank accounts, and transfers to brokers rest. A properly supervised system reduces the risk that access to money gets blocked in moments of crisis.

The NBM's Executive Board meets several times a year to decide on monetary policy. Each decision comes with a statement explaining the reasoning: the evolution of inflation, the external environment, and the medium-term outlook.

What to watch

Three things matter: the direction of the base rate (a hike, a hold, or a cut), the gap between current inflation and the 5% target, and the tone of the statement. Together, they anticipate moves in yields and in the Moldovan leu. You'll find macroeconomic data on the Economic indicators of Moldova page, and upcoming data on the Moldova Economic Calendar.

A common confusion. In Moldova, financial supervision is split between two authorities, and since July 1, 2023, that split has changed.

For the capital market, where brokers and investment intermediaries operate, the regulatory authority is the National Commission for Financial Markets (NCFM), not the NBM. Since July 1, 2023, supervision of insurance and non-bank lending moved from the NCFM to the NBM, but the capital market stayed with the NCFM. The two institutions collaborate, but they have different mandates: the NBM is responsible for monetary stability and prudential supervision, while the NCFM is responsible for the capital market and investor protection.

The NBM invests constantly in financial education. Since 2019, the central bank has run, together with the Independent Analytical Center „Expert-Grup", the project „Învață! Dă sens banilor", organizes an annual financial education camp, produces the podcast „Dă sens banilor", and contributes to drafting the National Financial Education Strategy. These programs explain, in terms anyone can understand, concepts like inflation, saving, or how the financial system works.