TIRANA, November 11/ATA/ The Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finance approved today in principle the draft budget for 2022 and the fiscal package attached to it.
During the discussion, the opposition said that it would not vote for this budget because it did not support the citizen, but it was a budget that was in support of Public-Private-Partnership.
“The situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet passed. We expected the government to come out in support of the citizens to overcome this situation by increasing salaries and pensions. But, the government supports the contracts through this budget, leaving the citizen alone”, said MP Dashamir Shehu.
But, Minister of Finance and Economy Delina Ibrahimaj said that the average salary has increased going to 56710 ALL today from 45 961 that was in 2013.
“The projected budget for 2022 predicts debt reduction, increased support for the families in need, farmers’ subsidy, investment rate of 6.4% which is above the average of 5% in previous years, higher level of economic growth than the average of previous years. The average salary is today 56710 lekë from 45 961 lekë that was in 2013. We will work to increase the average salary. The increase must come in parallel with the increase of productivity, because we cannot increase salaries without having an increase in productivity”, said Ibrahimaj.
The minister also responded to opposition accusations of increasing the number of employees in the state administration.
“Today, there are 83740 budget employees from 87205 that were in 2013”, said Ibrahimaj.
Regarding the opposition claims for increasing poverty in the country, Minister Ibrahimaj said that the risk of being poor is 23% and the only country with the lowest level in the region is Montenegro.
Meanwhile, regarding the support of farmers through this budget, the minister said that subsidies have almost doubled compared to last year.
“Support for farmers from 1.7 billion ALL that was in 2021 goes to 3.2 billion ALL this year,” said the minister. /a.a/p.s./
