TIRANA, June 18 /ATA/- Minister of Finance and Economy, Arben Ahmetaj, stated on Monday that direct foreign investments are on increase even this year and projected to hit USD 1 bn in 2018.
Speaking at the meeting of Investments Council, which was held in Tirana, minister Ahmetaj dwelt on BoA statistics about foreign investments.
“Inflows of foreign direct investments amounted to EUR 284 million, marking an annual increase of 62% or an all-time high in the last 8 years,” the minister said.
According to him, foreign investments in 2017 are estimated at EUR 907 mln and comparing the performance of foreign investments in Q1, this year with last year’s, this year foreign investments will reach USD 1 bn.
“The positive performance of direct foreign and domestic investments reflects the trend of Albanian economy in the last 4-5 years,” Ahmetaj said.
Ahmetaj went on saying that until 2013 our economic model was based on consumption and remittances as the main source of revenues from abroad, an economic model which, according to him, had used up its potential and did not generate any more employment.
To date, 5 years after the application of a new approach of economic development oriented towards a model based on exports, investments and production, the figures depict a different panorama.
Besides fourfold economic growth, domestic and foreign investments have transformed into two growth generators, the head of public finances said.
The minister took the opportunity to comment on the recent WB report highlighting that net exports have stimulated economic growth, especially the export of services, including tourism and export of goods.
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