
The volume of money in circulation outside the banking system has also increased for the month of March this year. According to the official data of the Bank of Albania, the amount of money outside the banks has exceeded the value of 405 billion ALL.
In just 2 months, the volume of money in circulation has increased by about 3 billion ALL, or almost 30 million euros. This increase comes after a decrease in the previous two months where during the period January-February this amount of money in circulation varied from 402 billion ALL to 403 billion ALL. It should be noted that this positive difference is the highest since November of the previous year .
Even compared to the same period a year ago, the increase turns out to be significant since the total money in circulation in March 2023 was ALL 397.5 billion. In the span of one year, the volume of money circulating outside the banking system has increased by almost 8 billion lek, or approximately 80 million euros.
Meanwhile, the total assets of the banking system also recorded an increase. According to the Bank of Albania, total assets at the end of March 2024 turn out to be ALL 717.5 billion. The increase in assets comes after a slight decrease in February this year.
This increase in total assets in the banking system is attributed to the increase in asset items such as financial instruments with 494 million ALL and transferable deposits with nearly 9 billion ALL. Likewise, the exchange rate that has favored the strengthening of the local currency during these months has also contributed to the growth of broad money. By broad money we understand the amount of money that is in the hands of individuals and businesses but that has not been deposited in banks.
On the other hand, if we extend the analysis to the time frame of one year, it results that the performance of the banks in 2023 was higher. According to the data, in March of last year, the total assets were 722.3 billion ALL, while today we have 5 billion ALL less.