TIRANA, May 20/ATA/ Minister of Finance and Economy Delina Ibrahimaj stated today that the first period of the year was characterized by increased inflation rates, increased imports and exports, improved labor market indicators, good performance of business activity and stabilized rates of exchange rate.
During a press conference regarding the economic situation in the country, the minister said that economic growth for the current year is expected to be 3.2%, while there is talk about reducing inflation growth rates.
Ibrahimaj said that the relevant teams had analyzed the indicators last week together with an IMF mission, which at the end of the visit reviewed the forecast for the country’s economic growth from 2% to 3%.
“All indicators have been carefully analyzed over the past week together with representatives of the IMF mission and at the end of the day there was reached the result of revising the economic growth forecast to 3% from 2% which was the forecast of the previous round”, said Ibrahimaj.
Also Ibrahimaj said that the Ministry of Finance and Economy sticks to its forecast for economic growth of 3.2%, based on current indicators.
According to Ibrahimaj, inflation for the 4-month period has an average rate of 4.9%, while in April it was 6.2%.
“If we refer to the monthly inflation figures, there is a difference between March and April, when there was a reduction. The monthly inflation in March for food products increased by 3.9%, while in April it was 1.1%. There has been a slowdown in price growth which is a positive signal in terms of inflation expectations during the current year,” she said.
If comparing it with the countries of the region, Ibrahimaj said that Albania continues to remain among the countries with the lowest total inflation rates and food inflation./p.s./
