Lek weakens against Euro

TIRANA, Sept. 19 – After dropping to as low as 136.5 lek last July, the Euro has regained ground against the Albanian national currency, lek. This week the single European currency was trading at 139.13 lek, almost 3 lek higher compared to a few weeks ago when migrants’ arrival and lower trade exchanges with Eurozone countries had considerably weakened the Euro.
The appreciation of the Euro against the Albanian lek is bad news for borrowers in Euro who have their income in lek and government’s external debt payments but good news for Albanian exporters who are already suffering from poor demand in Italy and Greece.
The national currency, lek, has lost around 15 percent during the past 3 years against the Euro, the main currency used in real estate lending. In November 2008, when the global crisis broke out Euro stood at an average of 123.29. Since then it has been on a constant appreciation trend against Lek, climbing to a historically record high of 141.97 lek in June 2011.
Meanwhile, the US dollar continues appreciating against the Albanian lek climbing from an average of 98.79 lek in May 2011 to 112.3 lek in May 2012. This week the US dollar registered a record high of 111.7 lek for the past two years.
The US dollar slightly dropped to 106.81 lek this week.