One month after the launch of the RON, the new bank notes and coins have been late to enter circulation, thus encouraging traders and their customers to continue thinking in ROL. As a result of the small sums in circulation, at the end of one day only 10-20% of the cash in traders'' offices is in the form of RON.
Meanwhile, commercial banks and the NBR continue to fight over the issue of feeding the market with the new currency. Recently, banks again asked the central bank to stop introducing more ROL to the market, but the central bank has continued in doing so. It did, however, promise to speed up the replacement of bank notes with low nominal values, those of 10,000 ROL and 50,000 ROL, with the corresponding notes of 1 RON and 5 RON, irrespective of usage.
As regards 100,000 ROL, 500,000 ROL and 1,000,000 ROL bank notes, they will continue to be used in the same way, says the central bank, since these can still be used as they have a low wear and tear level (up to 20%). In this way, the NBR is trying to reduce the cost of issuing old bank notes, especially the 1,000,000 ROL notes, which have not been in circulation for a long time. This all means that the RON will scarcely be seen over the coming period.
"Customers do better in ROL," say shop representatives in Bucharest.
The new coins are the most common, while the 500 RON bank note, which has no equivalent in ROL, has barely been seen in stores. Shopping is done on the principle that "the ROL is still stronger".
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