In September 2022, the currency in circulation (M0)¹ amounted to MDL 31,065.8 million, decreasing by MDL 645.7 million (2.0%) compared to December 2021 (Chart 1) due to exceeding of the volume of cumulative receipts over the volume of cumulative releases per banking system² by MDL 645.6 million in the period of January – September 2022.

Chart 1. 
Correlation of M0 indicator with volume of cash operations, million MDL

During January – September 2022, the volume of cash receipts increased by 15.1% compared to the similar period of the previous year and amounted to MDL 128,569.5 million. The increase in the volume of cash receipts was mainly determined by the increase by 9.1% of the receipts from the sale of consumer goods (regardless of the sales channel), which have the largest share (53.8%) in the volume of total receipts (Chart 2).

At the same time, the volume of receipts from the sale of foreign currency to individuals increased 2.1 times, amounting to MDL 8,755.8 million (the equivalent of USD 466.9 million³).

This evolution was supported by most sources with a major share in cash receipts.

Chart 2
Main sources of cash receipts in licensed banks vaults and their monthly dynamics

At the same time, in September 2022, the volume of cash receipts amounted to MDL 15,278.6 million (-5.9% compared to August 2022 and +0.6% compared to September 2021).

The volume of cash releases from licensed banks vaults in January-September 2022 increased by 12.4% compared to the similar period of the previous year and amounted to MDL 127,923.9 million (Chart 3).

Chart 3.
Main purposes of cash releases from licensed banks vaults and their monthly dynamics⁴

This dynamic was mainly determined by releases from ATM with a significant share of 21.6% of the total volume of cash releases, which increased in January-September 2022 by MDL 6,143.4 million (or +28.6%) as compared to the similar period of the previous year as well as the volume of releases from individuals’ accounts⁵, which amounted to MDL 31,169.0 million that represents 24.4% of the total volume of cash releases registering an increase of MDL 5,625.2 million (or +22.0%).

The purchase of currency from individuals constituted MDL 34,446.9 million (equivalent to USD⁶ 1.837.0 million), having a share of 26.9% of the total volume of cash releases.

In September 2022, the volume of cash releases amounted to MDL 15,290.9 million, which is more than the volume of cash receipts by MDL 12.3 million. Compared to August 2022, cash releases decreased by MDL 967.4 million or by 6.0%.

• Volume of cash operations and the components of receipts and releases in the banking system of the Republic of Moldova for January-September 2022.xls
• Instruction on the compilation by banks of the Report on the volume of cash operations

1. Currency in circulation (M0) represents circulating cash issued by the National Bank of Moldova, except for cash in banks and NBM vault.

2. Volume of cash operations includes transactions with commemorative coins.

3. Recalculated using the official average exchange rate calculated for that period.

4. Aggregate data may not correspond exactly to the sum of the components due to mathematical rounding.

5. Current, deposit and card accounts are included

6. Recalculated using the official average exchange rate.