Ukrainian Refugees Boost Demand for Euro Banknotes in Romania
Displaced Ukrainians wait at an underpass at the Lviv-Holovnyi railway station in Lviv, Ukraine, on March 3.
Photographer: Jonathan Alpeyrie/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Romania’s central bank asked lenders to increase their physical cash holdings of foreign currency due to increased demand for mostly euro banknotes from an unprecedented number of people fleeing the war in neighboring Ukraine.
As more than 250,000 refugees have entered Romania since the Russian invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago, banks and exchange offices in the capital Bucharest and other towns and cities in the north and the east of the country have been facing euro cash shortages, according to central bank spokesman Dan Suciu.