Central bank governor indicates Albanians abroad feel safer depositing their money in Albania, where the economy is stronger, rather than developed neighboring economies still suffering from economic difficulties.
TIRANA, April 15ؔhere is now little doubt that Albanians’ trust in the country’s banking system has returned as January numbers released this week by the Bank of Albania indicate bank deposits almost reached the historic record of 681 billion leks, with an increase of 18.6 billion leks compared to December last year.
The data shows that the majority of new deposits in banks were in foreign currency, something indicating that the money is coming from Albanians abroad.
BoA Governor Adrian Fullani indicated this week that Albanians abroad feel safer depositing their money in Albania, where the economy is stronger, rather than developed neighboring economies still suffering from economic difficulties.
“Despite the increasing public debt, so far, Albania remains a country with economic stability, unlike what is happening in some developed neighboring economies where a good part of Albanian immigrants work,” Governor Fullani said during a television show this week. “At this point it appears that the crisis of the neighbors, which has had negative impact on the Albanian economy, doesn’t just bring bad things. Why not benefit from the advantages our economy has over others?”
The latest official data by the Bank of Albania also shows that deposits in the banking system marked the start of this year with growth that was fastest in three years, excluding the seasonal increase that occurs annually from July to August when Albanian immigrants visit home. By comparison, there was no increase in January 2009, and half the increase of today in January 2008.
