PRESS RELEASE
Bank of Albania interventions in the money market and foreign exchange market over Q4 2015

1.1. Open market operations

Money market interventions during 2015 Q4 consisted in   open   market   operations for injecting temporary liquidity.

The total amount of injected liquidity averaged ALL 31.1  billion, from ALL 36.4 billion in the previous quarter. The need for liquidity has decreased as Ministry of Finance met its financing needs in the external market as opposed to the domestic one. 

Bank of Albania reduced its portfolio by ALL 10.9 billion at Ministry of Finance?s buy-back operations and through the reduction of participation in auctions. 

To  inject  temporary  liquidity,  the  Bank  of  Albania employed  its  main  instrument,  the one-week  reverse repurchase agreement -on average, ALL 16.0 billion, from the average of ALL 20 billion a week in the previous quarter. The on-month injections averaged ALL 10.8 billion, from ALL 14 billion a week in the third quarter. In the last quarter, the three-month maturity was renovated for ALL 2 billion, from ALL 2.45 billion in July. The three-month injections of August and September matured. Nevertheless, the average daily injection of liquidity through this instrument increased at ALL 4.2 billion, from 2.3 billion in the previous quarter. 

The one-day reverse repurchase agreement was employed in three cases, at the last day of the reserve maintenance period, at an average of ALL 3.4 billion. This operation was used only in one case, with the same objective, in the previous quarter.

1.2. Use of standing facilities

Banks employed the overnight loan facility in seven cases, from two cases in the previous quarter, at an average of ALL 2.9 billion. The overnight deposit was used in no case, and since the beginning of November, along with the cut of the key rate, the interest rate on overnight deposits fell at 0.0%.