PRESS RELEASE
Bank of Albania interventions in the money market and foreign exchange market over 2014 Q1

1.1 Open market operations

Money market interventions during 2014 Q1 consisted of open market operations for the injection of liquidity and permanent operations aiming at structuring Bank of Albania's portfolio.

The total amount of injected liquidity averaged ALL 21.22 billion, from ALL 16.05 billion injected in 2013 Q4. Average injected liquidity was around 25% higher than a year earlier, when it amounted to around ALL 17 billion. 
 
To inject liquidity, the Bank of Albania employed its main instrument, the one-week reverse repurchase agreement - on average, ALL 12.84 billion a week* - and the one-month reverse repurchase agreement - on average, ALL 2.00 billion a week*. In order to provide banks the temporary opportunity to increase the provided amount against the total injected by the Bank of Albania above the 70% level, following the quarterly injection operation of the last week of 2013, the Bank of Albania conducted three quarterly reverse repo auctions in 2014 Q1, during which no maximum allotment cap was applied.

To structure the central bank's portfolio, the Bank of Albania aimed at reducing the holdings in T-bills to no more than 70% of the total issued volume. During 2014  Q1, the Bank of Albania carried out six open market operations for the purchase of newly-issued 12-month T-bills at ALL 1.65 billion, and two auctions for their sale at ALL 0.80 billion. The participation in 3- and 6-month T-bills through reinvestment in the primary market was reduced by ALL 0.75 billion. As of end-2014 Q1, Bank of Albania's portfolio increased by ALL 100 million from the beginning of 2014, due to the non-fulfilment of small-volume sale auctions.

1.2 Use of standing facilities

During 2014 Q1, the overnight deposit facility was employed six times, averaging ALL 0.12 billion. In 2013 Q4, this facility was employed 21 times and averaged ALL 0.49 billion.

The overnight loan facility was employed six times, averaging ALL 0.63 billion, against four times in 2013 Q4 when it averaged ALL 0.25 billion.