Albanian Lek gaining terrain against Euro

25/06/2011 08:35

The European currency suffered decreases in the recent days. Bank of
Albania reported that one Euro was sold for 141.33 ALL, or 0.04 ALL
cheaper than some days ago. For more than one week, Euro has gone down
the level of 142 ALL, in which it stayed for several months, almost
reaching 143 ALL.

Experts say that this decrease is due to the movements in the tourism sector. However, this is only one side of the story, because Euro is losing terrain against other currencies too. The cause seems to the Greek crisis, the debts of which have created uncertainties for other countries of the Euro Zone.

A decrease of the European currency would reflect positive results in some of our economy sectors, starting with the imports, where foreign goods would cost less. As confirmed by the Albanian Bank, part of the current 4.2 inflation level is due to the foreign pressures, such as the stock exchanges and exchange rates.

The Euro decrease enables the Albanian consumers to exchange goods and services of the domestic market with lower prices, including the construction sector, which sells apartments only in Euros; electronic appliances and tourist packages.

Another important positive effect is that of the mortgage installments that must be paid in Euros.

On the other hand, the government will gather fewer revenues from the taxes on imported goods. Albania has commercial exchanges with 65% of the EU countries. This means that the pressure of the European currency is bigger in the Albanian market. We remind that Albania is bordered only by countries that use Euro, except from FYR Macedonia.

The debate for implementing Euro in the domestic market has involved many economy experts, with some of them seeing the future of the country as part of the Euro Zone. The Prime Minister declared some times ago that the future of Albania is Euro, but the Albanian Bank explains that the usage of this currency demands fulfillment of strong conditions. The Greek crisis makes it even more difficult for the passage of our country in the Euro Zone, since many EU countries have not accepted to use the currency exactly for not being involved with such crisis.

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