Romanian Leu (RON)

About the Romanian Leu

The Romanian Leu (RON) is the official currency of Romania, issued by the National Bank of Romania (Banca Națională a României), the country's central bank since 1880. The leu has no special currency symbol: amounts are written with the word lei, the plural of leu, and one leu divides into 100 bani. The ISO 4217 code RON denotes the new leu introduced in the redenomination of 1 July 2005, distinguishing it from the old leu, ROL.

The National Bank of Romania defines and implements Romania's monetary and exchange rate policy under Law 312/2004, and describes the exchange rate regime of the leu as a managed float. The regime operates alongside direct inflation targeting, the monetary policy strategy the NBR adopted in August 2005, with inflation targets rather than an exchange rate serving as the nominal anchor and allowing a flexible response to unforeseen shocks. The leu therefore has no central rate, fluctuation band, or ERM II participation.

The leu became Romania's national currency under a law of 1867 that established a decimal, bimetallic monetary system and defined one leu as 5 grams of silver of 835/1000 fineness or 0.3226 grams of gold. The National Bank of Romania was founded in 1880 with the exclusive right to issue banknotes, putting its first notes into circulation that year. On 1 July 2005 the leu was redenominated, 10,000 old lei (ROL) being exchanged for 1 new leu (RON), ending an inflationary cycle.

Romania joined the European Union on 1 January 2007 and, as a member state with a derogation, is expected to adopt the euro once it meets the convergence criteria. In its June 2026 Convergence Report the European Central Bank recorded that the leu did not participate in ERM II over the 2024–2026 reference period, trading instead under its managed floating regime with comparatively low volatility, and that Romania had been subject to an excessive deficit procedure since 2020, with a 2025 deficit of 7.9% of GDP.

All circulating banknotes — 1 leu and 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 lei — are printed on polymer and portray figures from Romanian history and culture: historian Nicolae Iorga on the 1 leu, composer George Enescu on the 5 lei and First World War heroine Ecaterina Teodoroiu on the 20 lei, each shown alongside a flower. The smaller notes match euro formats, the 1 leu sharing the €5 banknote's 120 × 62 mm size. Coins circulate in denominations of 1 ban and 5, 10 and 50 bani.