Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha has commented on the euro’s exchange rate against the lek, rejecting the argument that the European currency’s depreciation in Albania is due to an increase in tourist numbers.
Berisha claims the euro’s decline is linked to an influx of money from criminal activities, particularly drug trafficking, and accuses the government of hiding the phenomenon behind tourism figures.
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The opposition leader compared figures from 2007 and 2022. According to the figures he presented, Albania had around 1.8 million tourists in 2007, when one euro was worth about 120 lek.
“In 2005, Albania had 300,000 tourists a year. In 2007, Albania had around 1.8 million tourists a year. The euro-to-lek exchange rate was 120 lek to one euro when Albania had 1.8 million tourists. Now let’s go to 2022. This is for the public deceivers who tell Albanians that the euro is falling because of the influx of tourists. In 2022, when, according to the narco-government’s statistics, tourist numbers reached 9 million, up from 1.8 million, the euro was exchanged not at 120 lek but at 127 lek. And let’s ask the governor and the Bank’s board a question: Can you still tell Albanians that you are disguising the narco-euro as tourism? There you have it, gentlemen. In 2022, the euro was exchanged at 127 lek despite an influx of 9 million tourists. That is according to official statistics, which I absolutely do not believe, because they count all passengers on budget airlines flying into Rinas Airport as tourists. But I’ll use that figure. Even with 9 million tourists in Albania, the euro was exchanged at 127 lek, meaning it was stronger than in 2007, when it was exchanged at 120 lek. So the influx—I mean the depreciation of the euro, and look especially at how sharply it has fallen since 2022, when Albania’s drug bosses and drug cartels took over the cocaine market and became its leading transporters in Europe, its controllers and principal shareholders—has brought it down. It says 99 here because this is from 2024, but today it is at 91 or 92 lek,” Berisha said.
Berisha said the Bank of Albania is rightly compelled to protect the European Union’s euro in Albania. According to him, citizens pay the price through higher prices.
“The tons that arrive by container, truck, plane and other means remove the lek from the market because they are converted on the black market. To save the euro from an even greater catastrophe, the Bank releases colossal amounts of lek into the market.
Albanians pay for this out of their own pockets. That is why, if you look at the figures, prices in Albania have risen more in recent years than in any other country. That is why food prices in Albania have risen six times more than in the European Union. That is why the gap between prices and wages in Albania grows wider every day,” the Democratic Party leader said.
