TIRANA, Oct.8 /ATA/ The Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said today at a press conference after the government meeting that, the government’s goal is to protect the customer at this moment, but not to completely undermine the plans for further economic growth.
Asked about the risks this crisis can pose to state budget, the premier Rama said that, “we have worked day and night and analyzed the issue from all sides. Every citizen when faced with a risk to the financial stability has the absolute right to address concerns to the government.”
“But, it is important that the citizen to be open, to listen to the arguments in order to understand what the government can do to face a coming crisis,” he added.
“In this aspect, our goal is to protect the customer at the moment, but not to completely undermine the plans for further economic growth,” the Prime Minister Rama stressed.
“The economy does not grow though subsidies or indulgences. The economy grows through the productivity growth as a whole, and certainly the economy grows through the growth of investments. Thus, we do not want to undermine them both. We did the same thing during the earthquake and pandemic and that is why today data show an economic growth of 18%, the highest in the region in the second quarter. This is an increase that comes as a result of the immediate response to the shock and collapse,” the premier Rama said.
“Economy has revived. Today the number of employed people is larger than before the pandemic,” he added.
“The economy has recovered and now we must continue and must not stop our path towards economic growth through the investments we have planned. The abolition or the reduction of VAT would not be a solution, because the price in the market is determined by the supply-demand ratio, not the state. The government in a capitalist market economy system has no capacity to impose regulations on private businesses to charge their product price,” Prime Minister Rama said. //a.i/
