TIRANA, Jan 22 /ATA/ On Wednesday, Minister of Finance Petrit Malaj announced that the recent revision of the 2024 budget, approved by the government on December 19 as a Normative Act, has ensured support for the most vulnerable groups in society. This includes the allocation of a year-end bonus package worth approximately 2.2 billion lek, as well as the opening of a special account at the Bank of Albania to support pensioners with an initial transfer of around 6.3 billion lek.
While discussing the Normative Act in the Economy and Finance Committee, Malaj explained that the revision of the 2024 budget also resulted in the reallocation of budget expenditures to areas with better performance, leading to a substantial fulfillment of obligations.
“Through this, we ensure that the planned budget deficit remains unchanged at 57.28 billion lek. We also keep total revenues at the planned level, based on their collection performance in line with the current annual plan, reflecting only a few adjustments between sub-categories, such as changes in local revenues, non-tax revenues, and project grants, based on the performance from January to November 2024. Furthermore, approximately 50 billion lek has been redistributed between current and capital expenditure categories, aiming to fully achieve public expenditures for 2024,” stated Malaj.
“2024 saw further consolidation of the country’s economic foundations. Data shows an economic growth of 4% for the first nine months, with accelerating momentum from quarter to quarter. This economic expansion is inclusive, driven by the dynamism of the services sector, increased activity in construction, and a healthy base of private consumption. The business climate, reflected in economic confidence indicators, continues to remain above historical average levels,” said Malaj.
An important achievement for macroeconomic stability, he emphasized, is the performance of prices.
According to him, the average inflation for 2024 has dropped to 2.2%, a significant improvement from 4.8% in 2023.
Meanwhile, foreign direct investments, Malaj said, continue to pursue their positive trend, with an 8.1% increase in the first half of 2024, and also showing positive growth in the third quarter, reaching over 1 billion euros by the end of the third quarter of 2024.
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