The Paulson plan is off, the leu sinks to over 3.75 versus the euro

The leu dropped abruptly this morning to over 3.75 per euro, on regional trend, but afterwards recouped as currencies on international markets settled down after the Paulson bank-saving plan was rejected.

The leu stood early today close to yesterday evening's quota, of over 3.71 per euro, but as the day grew the leu dropped to a maximum of 3.7510 per euro. Later on, it reversed, stopping just below 3.74 versus the euro. At 11.15 a.m., the banks were buying the euro with 3.7400 and selling it for 3.7460 lei.

The neighboring currencies followed the same itinerary, the Polish zloty initially slipping from 3.39 to over 3.42 per euro and then climbing back up to 3.41 per euro. The forint dropped from 243.80 to 244.97 versus the euro but then rose to 243.25 per euro.

On international markets, the U.S. dollar flipped constantly between 1.43 and 1.4425 dollars per euro. Thus, the American currency initially grew to approximately 1.4340 per euro, then reversed and reached 1.4425 per euro. At 11.15 Romania's hour, the dollar was again decreasing and the euro stood at 1.4362 versus the dollar.

The 700 billion dollar worth Paulson plan to save the banks was rejected by the House of Representatives, which crashed the American capital markets Monday evening. This morning, all the markets in the world reported massive losses.

Interbank interests for overnight deposits stay as high as 12.5-14.5 percent a year, above the key interest rate of 10.25 percent, due to the lack of liquidities on the interbank market.

NewsIn