The amount of money circulating outside banks in the country reached more than 422 billion lek, or about 4.2 billion euros, in January. Compared to the same month a year ago, uncontrolled cash expanded by 34 billion lek. This is among the highest levels ever recorded.
"Money circulating outside the banking system is part of the informal economy and along with it, there is also money from criminal activities that take place inside or outside our country," says Zef Preçi, an economic expert.
In relation to the total money circulating in the Albanian economy, which is estimated at 1.79 trillion lek, informal money accounts for almost 23.6 percent of the total. To understand the high level of money outside banks, it is enough to say that in European Union countries this indicator does not exceed 9 percent, writes A2 CNN.
"Somewhere due to the incompetence of the administration and somewhere else by allowing the entry of money from criminal activities, we have today such a high level of money outside the banking system. Even though the Fiscal Amnesty was not allowed to be approved as a law, in fact it has happened in practice," the expert says.
Economic experts estimate that such a large circulation of money outside banks is the main cause of the depreciation of the euro and other currencies.
"I agree with international institutions that it can have some effect, but we can in no way claim that informal money can be fought by commercial banks."
This "tradition" of cash payments paves the way for informality, makes the fight against money laundering more difficult, and negatively impacts the economy, as the flow of money is uncontrolled. For these reasons, the Ministry of Finance and the General Directorate of Taxes have begun work to limit cash payments as a solution to reduce the flow of money outside banks in the country. (A2 Televizion)
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