Lek gains ground against Euro, USD

TIRANA, Feb. 2 – The national currency lek gained ground against the two main foreign currencies during the past week appreciating by an average of 2 lek. The central bank’s official exchange rate data on Wednesday showed the euro fell to 139.65 down from a record high of 140.5 lek a couple of weeks ago, while the US dollar dropped to 101.07 lek, down from 103.1 lek. Both of the main two foreign currencies had climbed by an average of 3 lek during the beginning of last February.
Experts say the depreciation of lek is temporary and is common during the beginning of the year when foreign companies operating in Albania transfer part of their profits to their countries of origin. The increasing demand for euro following the liberalization of visas in mid-December has also affected the situation.
The appreciation of the European currency is mostly affecting people who have borrowed in Euro mainly to buy apartments which are sold in this currency, but are paid in the national currency lek.
The latest Bank of Albania monetary report showed the exchange rate for the national currency lek appeared stable in the last quarter of 2010, when it depreciating by only 0.54 against the main foreign currencies compared to 3.57 percent and 2.54 percent in the last quarters of 2008 and 2009. Lek lost more ground against the US dollar at 9.73 percent compared to 1 percent for the Euro in the last quarter of 2010 year-on-year.