The decline in foreign currencies against the lek, on the one hand, is increasing foreign exchange reserves, and on the other, it is damaging the treasury as less revenue is being collected than planned.
Due to the increase in euro purchases in the market by the Bank of Albania, to curb an even stronger contraction, i.e. to prevent it from falling below 96 lekë, the lowest value for this year, the foreign exchange reserves have reached other record figures.
According to official data, at the end of September this year, foreign exchange reserves reached 7.2 billion euros, about 1.4 billion euros more than in September last year. A few days ago, at the Economy Commission, the Governor of the Bank of Albania stated that 800 million euros had been purchased by September to curb the decline of the European currency.
The vast majority of the foreign exchange reserve is held in securities, amounting to 5.3 billion euros, followed by 1.3 billion euros in currency deposits and 317 million euros in gold bars.
The reserve is activated in times of difficulty, crisis or uncertainty, and is used to repay foreign currency debt, guarantee import supplies or ensure exchange rate stability. With such foreign exchange reserves, the country manages to cover at least 7.3 months of imports.
But the strengthening of the Lek is hurting the state coffers, as less money is being collected than planned. The Ministry of Finance says that this year 2 billion and 267 million euros will be collected from VAT (net), or 100 million euros less than the initial plan due to the negative effect of the exchange rate. Meanwhile, in the 9-month period, 70 million euros less was collected from VAT on imports, due to the depreciation of the euro and the dollar alone.
Albanian.com
Editorial
