According to the data of the BoA, bonds on two-years maturities were sold out in the auction with a fixed interest rate or coupon of 2.58%, down from the level 2.65% recorded in last month’s auction. The market demand for these instruments remains high, the amount in the auction was about 8.8 billion Lek, out of 6.9 billion Lek bonds put up for sale by the Ministry of Finance.
The inflation rate in March rose to 1.2%, from 1.1% the previous month, according to the latest data from the Institute of Statistics. A year ago, this rate was fixed at 2.1%, while compared to February this year, the increase is fixed at 0.7%. Regarding the influence of groups on the inflation rate, the main contribution was given by the grouping of “non-alcoholic foods and beverages”, with 0.96 percentage points. Prices of non-alcoholic food and beverages turn out to be 3.1% higher than the same period a year ago. This group is the one with the highest price increase in annual terms, official figures show. Then comes communication, where prices turn out to be 2.2% more expensive, along with “furniture, appliances and home maintenance”, with a 2.2% increase compared to the same period a year ago. Transport is the only group where prices in March this year were lower than in March a year ago, down 1.6%. This data shows that this sector continues to suffer severe crisis caused by pandemic.
Builders show high expectations for further increase in the price level in the first quarter of this year, according to a survey conducted by the Bank of Albania, regarding the financial situation and employment expectations and prices. Unlike all other sectors that showed high doses of pessimism, due to the negative effects of the pandemic during this year, the construction sector managed to survive the crisis. Most of the builders interviewed by the Bank of Albania stated that prices will increase further during this year. The balance of responses that prices will rise, in all businesses in the sector was 11% higher than the responses of those who think prices will not rise. The balance of expectations that prices will rise further marked the highest level in at least the last two years. The construction confidence indicator rose by 8.0 percentage points in the first quarter. The increase of construction confidence indicator was mainly driven by the growth in the balance of construction activity by 15.2 pp. Meanwhile the other balance of the indicator, order books, slightly increased by 0.8 pp. Among the other balances of the survey, the financial situation, employment, and expectations over the next three months, did increase. Meanwhile, the capacity utilization rate lowered close to 62.8%.
