The euro exchange rate starts the week with further decline/ Touches a new historical minimum at 96.5 lekë

2025-12-09 15:08:15, Ekonomi CNA

The euro exchange rate starts the week with further decline/ Touches a new

The euro-lek exchange rate has started this week on the decline, touching a new historical minimum. According to the official exchange rate of the Bank of Albania, the euro was exchanged on Tuesday at 96.5 lek, while it had closed last week at the value of 96.57 lek.

According to market players, the downward pressures on the euro exchange rate, which have actually been present throughout the second half of the year, tend to strengthen in December, due to the festive period, which is accompanied by an increase in foreign exchange flows related to tourism and emigrants.

So far, the Bank of Albania's ongoing interventions have balanced market pressure on the European currency and made the exchange rate more stable compared to the previous two years. The annual decline in the euro-lek exchange rate is currently less than 2%.

According to market data, last Friday the Central Bank purchased 15.1 million euros in the planned foreign exchange purchase auction, part of the annual purchase calendar in function of foreign exchange reserve objectives.

The day before, on December 4, the Bank of Albania had also carried out direct purchases of foreign exchange, with the aim of keeping under control the decline of the euro, which the day before, on December 3, had fallen to a new historical minimum.

For the second consecutive year, the Bank of Albania is undertaking large purchases in the domestic foreign exchange market, with the aim of preventing further strengthening of the lek.

According to official information from the Bank of Albania, 933 million euros were purchased in the foreign exchange market in 2024. Meanwhile, according to statements by Governor Sejko, for the first nine months of this year the Central Bank has purchased about another 800 million euros.

The exchange rate performance shows that December is likely to further emphasize the euro's downward trend, although it is expected that the Bank of Albania's interventions will keep the exchange rate movement in small intervals.

Meanwhile, a temporary rise in the euro may be expected during the last days of December, due to the government's now-common tendency to spend most of the budget deficit in this period.

Concentrated government spending brings a strong increase in the supply of lek in the market, leading to its short-term depreciation against the euro.

This year too, fiscal policy has played an additional role in strengthening the local currency.

At the end of the 10-month period of 2025, the budget was in a large surplus, amounting to 49.2 billion lek. The high budget surplus has reduced the supply of the local currency in the market and has further fueled its appreciation tendencies. /Monitor