Bank of Albania intervenes in the money market

TIRANA, April 30 -A large number of Albanians living outside the country returned home for the Easter holidays bringing to Albania very large amounts of cash. This large infusion of currency forced the Bank of Albania to intervene in the market in order to prevent a destabilisation of the exchange rates. According to exchange agents, the Bank of Albania bought surplus foreign currency, mainly Euros. Possibly, the intervention of the Bank of Albania was more than called for since the two main foreign currencies, Euro and US dollar, experienced an increase in their value with the Albanian Lek (ALL). According to exchange agents, 1 Euro was bought for ALL 122.0 and sold for ALL 122.5. $1 was bought for ALL 77.0 and sold for ALL 78.4. According to different sources, the amount of foreign currency traded last week was equal to all currencies traded last year at the same period. It does not seem that migrants are using more money during their Easter holidays. In general, they exchange only small amounts of Euros because they stay only few days in Albania. (Tirana Times Staff)