The Bank of Albania has bought at least 31.6 million euros since the beginning of autumn

2024-10-22 07:19:00, Ekonomi CNA

The Bank of Albania has bought at least 31.6 million euros since the beginning

The Bank of Albania continued its purchase program in the foreign exchange market during the fall. According to market data, in the last two auctions, in September and October, the central bank bought a total of 31.6 million euros.

In Friday's auction, the amount planned to be purchased in the first round of the auction was between five and ten million euros, while the Bank of Albania made purchases in the upper range, for a total of 10 million euros.

The Bank of Albania also exercised the purchase option in the second round, for an additional amount of 5.2 million euros, with the average purchase rate in the first round, of 5.2 million euros. In total, the amount purchased at the auction on October 18 reached 15.2 million euros.

Even in the September auction, the Bank of Albania in the first round made purchases at the upper value of the interval, with 10 million euros, while it further exercised the right to purchase in the second round, with another 6.4 million euros. In total, the purchased amount reached the value of 16.4 million euros, with a weighted average exchange rate of 99.34 ALL.

In addition to purchases at auctions, for a total of 31.6 million euros, since the beginning of October, the Bank of Albania has also resumed direct purchases of euros in the foreign exchange market, in order to prevent further strengthening of the lek in the exchange rate. The values ??purchased in direct operations are not made public by the Bank of Albania until the end of the following quarter.

However, the euro exchange rate continues to stay close to historical minimum values. According to the official exchange rate of the Bank of Albania, the euro was exchanged on Monday at 98.73 ALL, with an increase of only 0.01 ALL compared to the end of last week.

The Bank of Albania started direct interventions in the foreign exchange market in May and managed to keep the euro-lek exchange rate above the level of 100 lek until the beginning of August.

Only in the first half of this year, the Bank of Albania has bought almost 272 million euros in the foreign exchange market, of which 134.2 million euros in the auctions planned for the needs of the foreign exchange reserve, while even more, 137.6 million euros, were bought with direct operations, in order to avoid further strengthening of the lek in the foreign exchange rate.

After the Bank of Albania stopped direct purchases, the exchange rate of the euro gradually fell below the level of 100 lek. But, in October, the Bank of Albania found a strengthening of the downward pressure on the euro exchange rate and intervened in the market again.

Throughout 2024, the Bank of Albania intends to purchase through auctions the amount of 250-330 million euros to increase the foreign exchange reserve. However, including the direct purchases of foreign currency, it is estimated that the amount purchased during this year has significantly exceeded the upper range of the objective, of 330 million euros.

In the absence of these purchases, the drop in the exchange rate of the euro against the lek would have been even greater./ Monitor magazine