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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The Euro-Lek exchange rate recorded another strong increase on Thursday.
According to the official exchange rate of the Bank of Albania, the European currency was exchanged at the value of 104.87 lek, increasing by 2.65 lek compared to yesterday and by 4.38 lek compared to the historical minimum of 100.49 lek reached last Thursday.
Market agents say that all commercial banks have gone out to buy foreign currency, increasing demand and increasing the exchange rate at high rates. Experts believe that this situation is typical of requests in large values from corporate clients. Banks are buying currency to meet this demand or to close positions by selling at large realized values.
According to information from the market, the Albanian Electric Power Corporation has purchased about 30 million euros, in function of the needs for energy import.
Last year, energy imports from KESH played a significant role in the exchange rate and brought a temporary increase in the rate, as happened in March 2022. However, after November 2022, the increase in domestic energy production reduced the need for imports and affected the decrease in the demand for euros and the drop in the exchange rate of the European currency in the last months of the year. Apparently, the resumption of energy imports could be a factor that will again affect the foreign exchange rate.
The agents think that there may have been other subjects in the market who had chosen this period of the year to buy currency, based on the expectations for the seasonal fall of the Euro-Lek exchange rate. This has brought a concentrated demand and quite unusual growth of the Euro, right at the peak of the tourist season. The sudden increase in demand has brought about a kind of panic, which is also illustrated by the rapid increase in exchange margins, as a mechanism that brokers use to avoid losses from very strong short-term fluctuations.
The exchange rate followed a similar dynamic earlier this year, when, after a long downward trajectory, the Euro recorded a strong increase of several days. Experts believe that in a normal scenario, the rate increase of these dimensions will not last long, even considering that in this period of the year, the currency supply is estimated to be quite high.
The rapid growth of the Euro has, as expected, dragged most of the other important currencies behind it. The American dollar was exchanged at 94.23 ALL, touching the highest level in the last two weeks. The British pound also increased, reaching the value of 122.29 lek and also touching the highest level in more than two weeks./Monitor
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