Business sector says that agriculture, transports and agroprocessing industry have lost tens of millions of euros

In a press release issued yesterday, business organization, Konfindustria,  expressed its concern over the policy applied by the Bank of Albania, which, according to this organization, “failed in the case of the euro’s strong depreciation against the lek”. “In the past two years, 2017 and 2018, the euro has depreciated by 15% against the domestic currency. 9% of this depreciation has occurred last year and this has had serious long-term effects on the country’s economic development. The interventions of the Bank of Albania in the money market were delayed and ineffective and this gave a blow to many of the country’s industries, by favouring imports”, Konfindustria says. According to this organization, the ineffective application by the Bank of Albania of its legal obligations, such as it was the case with the strengthening of the national currency through informal and temporary sources, led to a controversial growth of macroeconomic indicators.

“The government has benefited from the decrease of the overall amount that it had to pay in foreign debt. This situation also led to an inaccurate picture of the performance of the Albanian economy in front of foreign investors, as it was the case with the emission of Eurobond at the end of 2018.This has seriously damaged the serious approach of the Albanian state in international financial markets in the long term”, Konfindustria says concluding that according to the Center for Studies within this organization, in 2018, besides the direct depreciation of incomes and savings for individuals, the most affected sectors by this unnatural depreciation of the euro are exports, agriculture, transports, agroprocessing industry and their losses are estimated to amount to tens of millions of euros. Meanwhile, this depreciation has favoured imports in all the sectors of economy.

Oil importers have benefited at least 70 million euros from the strengthening of the national currency. On the other hand, a negative blow was also given to the country’s ability to attract domestic and foreign investors.