TIRANA, Dec 8 /ATA/ – The Minister of Finance and Economy Ervin Mete affirmed Friday that the government is working on a package aimed at supporting vulnerable social categories in Albania and that the package will be announced within this year.
Addressing the Congress of the ruling Socialist Party, the Finance and Economy Minister stated that Albanian economy is experiencing growth and is ushering new expansionary and development phase.
“Albanian economy is experiencing a good moment and is practically entering a new growth phase. Our goal is to translate this growth – as already reflected in next year’s state budget – into increased welfare for the citizens,” Mete said.
Finance Minister said that the government expects the country’s GDP to double compared to 10 years ago and growth will be translated into higher income per capita and more development and quality employment opportunities.
“Next year’s budget will translate economic growth into more public investment projects and it will support key reforms, including the justice system reform, higher spending on education, health, defence, set to be increased to 2% of the GDP for the first time,” Finance Minister said.
He also underlined that the public debt is projected to narrow to 60% for first time in 13 years, allowing the government to support more reforms and gain access to the international financial markets.
Mete added that economic growth is also being translated into more employment opportunities, underlining that the unemployment rate has hit record low in the country.
He pledged that the government will press ahead with the wage increase reform to deliver on the promise that the average salary will rise to 900 euros a month by mid next year, with a total estimated cost of around 400 million euros.
Finance Minister noted he expects the private sector to follow the suit and increase salaries for their workers.
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