TIRANA, April 20 /ATA/- Minister of Finance and Economy, Arben Ahmetaj, said that the Progress Report presented by the European Commission points out that the Albanian government has made a good combination of macroeconomic policies and the new economic model is the underlying mechanism of macroeconomic policies.
“The Albanian economy has continued to grow thanks to domestic demand and foreign trade. The European Commission’s Progress Report echoes the country’s positive economic developments and, of course, highlights the long and difficult path we have followed, from the likelihood of Greek scenario back in 2013 to date as the country with the highest growth in the region,” minister Ahmetaj told a news conference.
According to him, beyond the political debate and emotion, the goal and lack of goal, these are figures and facts certified and scanned by EC and WB.
The minister touched on recommendations for Albanian govt.
The recommendations are about fiscal consolidation, further reduction of non-performing loans as well as further formalization of economy, he said,
Concerning consumption, Minister of Finance said that the report pointed out that all components of domestic demand have positively contributed to increase of Gross Domestic Product.
Economy grew thanks to domestic demand and foreign trade, private consumption rebounded in the last couple of years, the minister added.
With regard to exports, according to Ahmetaj, the report says that net exports contributed to increase, especially export of services, including tourism and export of goods.
While direct foreign investments, according to the Commission’s report, are larger than the current account deficit.
The report also analyzes the financial sector, where stability of financial sector has improved, while the level of non-performing loans dropped to 13.2% at the end of 2017.
It adds that there is room for banks to expand lending and boost economic growth.
In response to allegations levelled the previous day by the opposition leader, Lulzim Basha, in parliament who said that Albania’s economic relations with the West have diminished to shift towards East, Ahmetaj said that the EC’s Progress Report itself says that EU is the largest trading partner in Albania. According to him, the trade volume has gone up from 72.1% in 2015 to 74.8% in 2016.
The public debt review conducted by EC says that it continues a downward trend.
“The prudent fiscal policy, although an electoral year, reduced budget deficit and rendered public debt more sustainable,” the minister quotes the progress report as saying.
The EC’s Progress Report says that for the first time employment in non-agricultural sector has overtaken employment in agricultural one and economic growth has created jobs, Ahmetaj concluded.
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