Bank deposits in Albania pass the threshold of 1 tln ALL

Bank deposits passed the value of 1 trillion ALL at the end of 2016. According to the Bank of Albania, the increase in December brought the total value of deposits to 1014 billion ALL or about 7.4 billion euro.

After a growth by 17 billion ALL for December, deposits declined slightly in January this year, by 300 million ALL, while maintaining the pace of the annual growth.

Compared with a year ago, the bank’s total deposits increased by 3%.

The growth of the value of deposits during 2016 was mainly driven by the deposits in foreign currency, which in just one year expanded by 6.6%.

While a year ago the ratio between deposits in ALL and those in foreign currency was almost equal, now foreign currency deposits have taken the upper hand, with 52.4% of the total.

Factors that have led to the growth of the value of deposits in foreign currency may be different, ranging from flows of foreign investment and an improved trend in exports, to assumptions regarding the effects of illegal trade of cannabis abroad.

The high euro flows also find support in the euro exchange rate performance, where the European currency has suffered a devaluation from 3 to 4% compared to ALL.

However, the fact that deposits in ALL decreased slightly, while those in foreign currency increased significantly, shows a slight tendency of shift towards the currency preferred for keeping savings.

This shift is not motivated by the performance of interest rates on deposits, which for the euro are even lower than for deposits in ALL.

SCAN

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