The Bank of Albania has purchased EUR 19.3 million in the exchange market only in the first quarter of this year. According to central bank data on money market interventions, in two auctions conducted in February and March, the purchase amount went beyond the forecasts.
Last year, the Bank of Albania had purchased EUR 71.2 million in the foreign exchange market, in the context of the foreign reserve growth process. Despite this considerable demand, the depreciation of the euro continued, both in the first quarter and in the second quarter, even at higher rates.
The interventions in the second quarter will be made public about three months later, as this is the practice of the Bank of Albania. However, in the intervention calendar the central bank had planned three other auctions for buying euro, in order to increase the foreign exchange reserve. In addition to these previously planned interventions, in June, other currency purchase operations were also held, in order to curb the appreciation of the lek against the euro. This was decided at the June meeting of the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, with the argument that the rapid strengthening of the lek was neutralizing external inflationary pressures.Finally, the Bank of Albania's interventions seem to have stabilized the euro exchange rate at the 126 leks level. According to the official exchange rate, the euro was exchanged on Tuesday with 125.88 leks. Starting from last week, fluctuations in the euro-lek rate have been negligible and, at least for the moment, the Central Bank's target has been reached.