The Minister of Economy and Innovation, Delina Ibrahimaj, stated on Sunday that the strengthening of the domestic currency lek is the result of the increase in the supply of foreign currency in the economy, driven by tourism, foreign investments, remittances, exports, and income from work.

Ibrahimaj reacted to a post by former Deputy Minister of Finance, Irena Beqiraj, regarding the sources of foreign exchange inflows into the Albanian economy and allegations about the influence of money from illegal sources on the strengthening of the lek.

Minister Ibrahimaj called Beqiraj's arguments unfounded, emphasizing that the figure of 8.5 billion euros consists of income from tourism, foreign direct investments, and remittances, recorded according to official statistics.

However, suspicion of a highly potential influence of money laundering tactics has long been evidenced in Albania by various reports and analyses from local and international initiatives.

The use of money from undeclared and suspicious sources has been widely linked with the construction sector, which is also the best-performing sector of the economy.