Banks thirsty for immigrants’ money

For weeks now, Albanian banks have been preparing new strategies to attract deposits from immigrants who come to country for holidays. Deposit interest rates have reached record levels recently as ALL deposits have reached an interest rate of 11% and Euro deposits offer interest of 6%.
Cleary, this is not a problem of liquidity, but a new marketing approach from banks to attract immigrants who visit the country only for a few weeks. Additionally, banks offer high interest for very short periods of time. Experts say that there is nothing to worry about since bank deposits are rising and banks are urging immigrants to save their money, rather than spend. It also helps that the country has a huge deficit and Albanians are spending more than they previously were in the face of a global economic crisis.
Most of the money from these deposits are invested by banks in 3, 6, and 12 month government bonds. The government has increased demand in money, lately, due to increases in investments and the need to finance the budget for 2009.
According to the Society of Banks, revenue in the banking system has increased by 5 billion ALL, while deposits have increase by 14 billion ALL, during the first half of 2008.