Bank of Albania purchases €3.35m to raise foreign reserves

Bank of Albania said Thursday that it intervened in the domestic foreign exchange market during the third quarter by purchasing a total of 3.35 million euros (4.59 million U.S. dollars) in August. In its latest report on the intervention, the bank explained the purchase was aimed at increasing its foreign exchange reserves. While in September, the bank announced an auction on Oct. 10 for the purchase of 2 to 5 million euros to raise the reserve. According to the bank, the interventions in the third quarter included open market operations to inject liquidity as well as permanent operations, aimed at structuring its portfolio. The amount of the injections averaged at 17.38 billion leks (about 170 million U.S. dollars), versus 18.89 billion leks (about 185 million U.S. dollars) in the second quarter. The average liquidity for the third quarter of 2013 was only 2 percent lower than last year, when it amounted to 17.8 billion leks (about 174 million U.S. dollars).