Bank of Albania absorbs 376 million euro in repo funds in second quarter

TIRANA, Oct. – Central Bank of Albania said Monday that it had absorbed 46.3 billion leks ($473.8 million/376 million euro) in one-week, one-month and three-month repo funds at volume tenders held during the second quarter of 2006. “The over-liquidity in the banking system during the second quarter of the year was prompted mainly by the idle government liquidity due to the decrease in treasury bills issues and by the repo deals between the Finance Ministry and the banking system,” according to a statement. The bank auctions repo funds at volume tenders, usually held on Thursdays, to regulate the liquidity in Albania’s banking system. It uses mostly one-week repo funds. The bank absorbed an average 3.2 billion leks in one-week repo funds per week over the second quarter this year. The bank also used one-month repo deals up to two billion million leks at one volume tender held on June 8 and three-month repo deals with a total amount of 3.05 billion leks at three volume tenders in the second quarter. The bank also used one-day deposits, with an average daily amount of 307 million leks. The bank gave no information on the number of one-day deposit tenders held in the second quarter. BoA said it had intervened in the domestic foreign exchange market in the second quarter by selling 2.85 billion leks to commercial banks.