TIRANA, July 29/ATA/ The hard currencies are the favorite currencies in deposit accounts for a large part of Albanians.
The Central Bank reported that in June of the current year, deposit accounts in foreign currency increased by 0.78% on a monthly basis.
According to the Bank, financial corporations had the greatest impact on total foreign currency savings and individuals less.
For both types of currencies that are the most used in the domestic market (Euro and USD), the growth has been in checking accounts because the low interest rates do not encourage long-term savings. But, after the last two decisions of the Bank of Albania to increase the base rate, from the historical minimum level of 0.5% to 1.25%, it is currently expected that the interest on deposits will have the same trend, encouraging especially individuals to put their savings in longer time deposits.
On an annual basis (June 2022/June 2021), deposit accounts have increased by 8.1%. More than 80% of this increase came from savings in hard currency (the real effect is even higher since deposits in Euros are reported in Lek and there is an undervaluation effect as a result of the fall of the Euro).
The Bank said that the savings in foreign currency at the end of June accounted for 56.1%, from 53.8% in the same month last year. /j.p/p.s./
