TIRANA, October 12 /ATA/ Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of Albania Klodian Shehu said that the performance of the foreign exchange rate depends on demand and supply in the market and the changes that have occurred reflect real positive developments in the Albanian economy.
In an interview with the media, Shehu called this process a normal development.
According to him, the economic indicators reflect this reality. “In 2023, we had an improvement for the first time in many years of the current account, as a result of the very good performance of the tourism sector”, he said.
“The revenues from tourism are very good; they have continued to be very good even in the first 6 months of 2024, together with the incomes from remittances and inflows from foreign direct investments, which means that the flow of euros in the economy is significant and exceptional compared to 10-15 years ago”, explained Shehu.
According to him, this has led to a devaluation of the euro in the exchange rate. This, according to him, is a phenomenon that has been noticed in different periods in other countries and has pushed the Central Banks to absorb a part of this currency, just as the Bank of Albania has also done.
Shehu said that the changes that have occurred in the foreign currency exchange rate represent the structural change in the Albanian economy.
“It is premature to forecast whether it will continue or not, but the current exchange rate levels reflect the developments that have taken place. In the short term, fluctuations in the foreign exchange market can create problems in the portfolios of economic agents and can push them to take hasty actions. Therefore, the central bank prefers the gradual move of the exchange rate so that to give time to real economy agents to adjust their portfolios”, said Shehu.
Shehu stated that the banking sector in our country has been healthy and that the profit in 2023 has been a record, while the situation of capitalization in the banking system remains satisfactory. /j.p/p.s./
