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Euro deepens decline and drops below 96 lek for the first time

2026-03-06 14:07:00, Ekonomi CNA

The Euro/Lek exchange rate closed the week in further decline, breaking the 96 Lek mark for the first time. According to the official exchange rate of the Bank of Albania, the Euro was exchanged on Friday for 95.89 Lek, the lowest level ever recorded.

The decline in the exchange rate has also begun to expand on an annual basis. Compared to a year ago, the Euro-Lek exchange rate is down 3.3% compared to the same period a year ago.

Foreign exchange market agents told "Monitor" that the decline of the Euro in recent days can be explained mainly by the numerous exchanges carried out, especially by businesses, which have converted significant funds from Euro to Lek. This has increased the supply of the European currency in the foreign exchange market and has led to a further decline in the exchange rate, following a trend of several years.

On the other hand, stakeholders say that one of the reasons that has influenced the decline of the Euro is also a smaller presence of the Bank of Albania in the foreign exchange market. For approximately two years, the Central Bank has been buying large amounts of Euros, with the aim of slowing the downward trend of the exchange rate. This intervention is mostly motivated by the inflation target and limiting the deflationary effect resulting from the strengthening of the Lek.

However, in this period it seems that the Bank of Albania is maintaining a more withdrawn stance and has allowed the exchange rate to follow its normal course. This may explain why the decline of the Euro in recent weeks seems to have accelerated.

According to official data, for the first nine months of 2025, the Bank of Albania has purchased a total of 825.6 million euros in the domestic foreign exchange market. This is the highest historical value of the Bank of Albania's purchases in the foreign exchange market for this period of the year. Compared to the same period a year ago, foreign exchange purchases have increased by 52.2%.

Meanwhile, for 2026, the Bank of Albania has planned to further increase its planned purchases of foreign exchange in the domestic market and aims to purchase 330-450 million euros through auctions, with the objective of increasing the foreign exchange reserve. The purchase target has increased significantly compared to the projections in the range of 270-350 million euros foreseen for 2025.

However, in that part of the purchases related to direct intervention in the foreign exchange market, this year it seems that the Bank of Albania is intervening less, perhaps following the recommendations made at the end of last year by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)./ Monitor