TIRANA, Jan. 17 – The European currency saw an increase of 2 Albanian Leks in value, since the start of the year, with 1 EUR trading at 122.3 ALL on Sunday, according to the Bank of Albania, marking an increase that could lead to higher prices for imported goods.
The Albanian currency typically grows stronger during the holidays as Albanians working abroad return home with Euros to spend, resulting in an oversupply of foreign currency.
But economic experts now worry Albanian consumers could be hit by a double problem of inflation increasing prices in the Eurozone and a weaker ALL further increasing the cost to local consumers.
Until now Albanian consumers had been somewhat sheltered by higher inflation seen elsewhere in the continent due to ALL gaining some strength against EUR in December.
Albania does the majority of its foreign trade in EUR, and typically ALL is very stable in its exchange with the European currency, with fluctuations with other major world currencies typically government by the ALL-EUR exchange.
