TIRANA, June 14 – The Euro hit a three-month low against the Albanian national currency this week and is expected to further depreciate in the next couple of months during the peak of the tourist season when Europe’s single currency becomes a common currency due to tourists and migrants coming to spend their summer vacations home.
The Euro dropped to below 138 lek this week, registering the lowest rate since early last March when international oil prices hit a 12-year low and the U.S. dollar hit a 12-year high against both the Albanian currency and the Euro.
The depreciation of the euro which has traded at an average of 140 lek in the past couple of years is also affected the country’s exports two-thirds of which are destined for Eurozone countries.
Albania faces high euroization rates, with the single European currency accounting for more than half of total credit and being the main currency in the real estate market.
The national currency, lek, has lost around 15 percent during the past seven years against the Euro. In November 2008, when the global crisis broke out, the Euro stood at an average of 123.29 lek. Since then, it has been on a constant appreciation trend against lek, climbing to a historic record high of 141.97 lek in June 2011 and remaining at an average of 140 lek since then.
Meanwhile, the national currency has been stable against the U.S. dollar for the past three months trading at 123 lek.
The U.S. dollar hit a 12-year high against the Albanian lek and the Euro in March 2016 when oil prices fell to as low as $30 a barrel.
U.S. dollar denominated loans account for around 10 percent of the total loans to businesses and a negligible 1.2 in loans to households, but is the key currency on some key imports including oil and grains.
