Individuals deposits in the Albanian banking system reached in December 2017 the value of ALL 922.9 billion. 57.5% of this amount (ALL 531 billion) is owned by 3.7 percent of individuals, according to official data of the Deposit Insurance Agency.
The number of individual depositors at the end of 2017 is 2,479,471, but 92,818 of them own more than half of the savings in banks, pointing to a high level of inequality in the country.
In comparison with the previous year, inequality has deepened. In 2016, 4% of depository individuals own 45% of total deposits with a value of ALL 503 billion, so in 2017 the share of households has decreased and the wealth people has increased.The inequality in the country has also been confirmed earlier by national statistics. According to data from the Household Budget Survey for 2016, published by the Institute of Statistics, the trend is verified where the rich have been enriched even more, while the poor have continued to the other extreme. According to this survey, about 90% of households spend 78.3% of the total consumption value, with an average consumer spending of ALL 63,609 per month. On the other hand, 10% of households spend the 21.7% of the total consumption, with an average cost of 158.946 Lek per month.
How much secured are the deposits?
The depositor in each bank or branch of a foreign bank is secured 100% but in any case not more than ALL 2.500.000 (two million five hundred thousand) while the depositor in the savings and loan associations is secured at 100 per cent, but in any case not more than 2,000,000 (two million) ALL, regardless of the number of their deposits or their currency type deposited.
The Deposit Insurance Agency reports that last year the insured deposits of households in ALL in the banking system amounted to ALL 459 billion, representing 49.7% of the total deposits, compared with the previous year they increased by ALL 858 million.