21 mln euros went out of the banks just four months before the local elections in Albania

Chart about the money outside the Banks by Albanian State Bank

 The high-level of currency outside banks is a phenomenon that has usually accompanied all pre-election periods in Albania, reflecting the increase in public investment, or increased political parties' expenses for rallies, meetings, trips, etc. The recent local elections are also in line with this trend, though are accompanied by great uncertainties, conflicts between political parties, and ended up in uncompetitive voting with only one or two candidates.

The Bank of Albania data indicates that in the period from February to May, they money outside banks increased by ALL 2.6 billion, or about € 21 million, reaching the amount of ALL 274 billion or about € 2.2 billion.
By comparison, in the same period of the previous year, this indicator had decreased by about ALL 2.6 billion.

Only in May, the money outside banks has fallen by about 1 billion leks. But, unlike the previous years, this period is not finding an increase in public spending. According to Ministry of Finance data, the expenditures in Tirana were about ALL 22 billion for the 5-month period, down by almost 20% over the same period of the previous year.