The winners were picked among thousands of book titles, but five candidacies for each category were selected for the final phase.

The jury awarded the Best Novel of the Year prize to writer Besnik Mustafaj and his novel “Fati i marrë” (Crazy Fate). The prize was awarded in recognition for the courage and imagination in creating an “alternative” history, where it will take just changing a tiny detail in history centuries ago to help us find a better, and most importantly, more sensitive Albania; where the heroes are more vulnerable and humane; where women speak, even with the body language.

The prize Best Literary Research Book of the Year went to author Pëllumb Xhufi and his book “Albania and the Desperate End of the Century” (Shqipëria dhe fundshekulli i dëshpëruar).

The best translation prize was awarded to translator Ana Kove for “The Tin Drum” by Gunter Grass.

The best Poetry Collection of the Year award was handed over to Entela Tabaku for her poetry book “Qeramikiana”, and the best Stories Collection of the Year prize was awarded to author Shpëtim Kelmendi .

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According to INSTAT’s Road Accidents report for 2023, the number of accidents caused by individuals with driver’s license group 0 to 3 years has fallen to 12.9% year-on-year in 2023.

Drivers with over nine years experience are responsible for around 40% of road accidents, followed by drivers with six to nine years of driving experience, who account for 18.8% of the accidents in 2023.

According to the report, around 70% of people injured and killed in car accidents are male.

The most affected age group was 25-34-year-olds, who were responsible for the highest number of car accidents countrywide, with 71% of fatalities being males and 29% females. Figures suggest the male drivers are responsible for the most of car accidents during the reviewed period.

The data also revealed that Saturday and Sunday were the most accident-prone days of the week, with 15.1% of the accidents occurring on each of these two days. A significant portion of these accidents took place between 08:00 hrs and 12:00 hrs, with almost one in five incidents happening during these hours.

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Addressing the National Conference on Vocational Education and Training, the government head also noted that the Standard & Poor’s has also most recently raised sovereign credit ratings on Albania for the first time to BB- from B+.

PM Rama underlined that according to the Bank of Albania’s report, the FDI inflows to Albania  totaled overly 1.5 billion euros last year.

“This is from a significant leap from a steady trend in the past years, when the FDI inflows were estimated at around 1 billion. However, this is just the beginning of a new trend that will see the FDI inflows growing to 2, 2.5, 3, 4 billion euros soon. This is totally possible if we succeed in building human capacities, build adequate human capital to cope with the growth of investors’ interest and to cope with this overall growth of the country in the next 5 years, until 2030,” Rama said.

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Central bank said that the slower surge in prices of food items drove to the drop of inflation, while fuel and rent prices have been increasing and inflation of other basket items was relatively stable.

From the macroeconomic perspective, the inflation decline in the fourth quarter reflected the reduced domestic inflationary pressures.

This fall has reflected both the effect of the high comparative base of the previous year, as well as the consequences of the normalization of the monetary policy stance so far. On the other hand, the external inflationary pressures have been increasing in the fourth quarter of 2023 – despite the exchange rate strengthening, due to the fast upsurge in prices of energy products across international markets.

However – according to central bank – the domestic inflationary pressures – though trending downwards – remain relatively high, yet not in line with the Bank’s price stability target.

This performance is dictated by the relatively high demand in goods and services, which in turn keeps profit margins high, as well as by the fast rise in wages, which is further translated into increased production cost.

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Data from the Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA) show that the Domestic MTPL Insurance Premiums recorded an increase by 8.20% of the gross written premium volume in 2023.

The number of contracts increased by 9.21% compared with 2022.

Green Card Insurance Premiums registered an increase by 1.16% of the gross written premium volume. The number of contracts increased by 38.10% compared with last year.

Border Insurance Premiums registered an increase by 1.11% of the gross written premium volume compared with 2022

The number of contracts increased by 11.58% .

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Speaking at a press conference on performance of the Albanian economy in 2023 and outlook for this year, Finance and Economy Minister noted that last year was extraordinary in terms of tourism development, after the sector generated over 3.2 billion euros in revenues, the highest figure ever recorded, and more than 10 million foreign tourists visited the country.

“Albania has already established year-round tourism with more than 10 million foreign visitors, with tourism revenues in first nine months of 2023 estimated at around 3.2 billion euros, the highest ever recorded figure,” Mete said.

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–Berlin Process Summit

-State budget

-Wage increase

-Pension indexation

– Screening process as part of EU accession negotiations

Berlin Process Summit for first time in Albania

Albania hosted another major international event, the Summit of the Berlin Process leaders, which took place for the first time outside of the European Union borders in Tirana on October 16, with participation of the Western Balkan Six (WB6) leaders and their peers in Berlin Process host countries, as well as high-level representatives and international bodies of more than 30 countries, the EU institutions, international financial institutions and the region’s civil society, youth and businesses community. German Chancellor and the European Commission President, as well as a number of prime ministers of the EU member states attended the Summit. In the meantime, President of France Emmanuel Macron visited Tirana in framework of the Berlin Process Summit marking the first state visit of a French president to Albania.

Berlin Process Summit provides a platform for high-level cooperation between high official representatives of the Western Balkan Six (WB6) and their peers in Berlin Process EU host countries. The initiative focuses primarily on improving regional cooperation in the Western Balkans in areas of rule of law, security and good governance, addressing regional challenges and assisting countries in the region on the path towards integration into the European Union.

STATE BUDGET

The 2024 state budget projects a total of 735.9 billion lek  (around EUR 7 billion), further supporting Albania’s economic growth, promoting employment and social protection, and also supporting further fiscal consolidation.

The 2024 budget is also projected to support a significant wage hike reform scheduled to complete in 2024, earlier than initially planned, and the average salary will rise to 900 euros a month within next year. A new wage increase is planned under the 2024 budget for general practitioners, nurses and health workers, the pre-university education teachers, the policemen, servicemen and certain categories of public administration at local and central government level. The total cost of the new wage reform is estimated at over 39 billion lek or $400 million. Meanwhile, around one third of the overall public expenditure under the 2024 state budget is earmarked for the social protection and vulnerable social categories, the retired people and the newborns.

Public investments in 2024

– Funds for the planned public investment projects in 2024 are estimated around 5.3% of the country’s GDP or at a total of 128.5 billion lek, around 4.6 billion lek more than the initial plan for 2023. Largest share of the capital expenditure for 2024 is earmarked for supporting important ongoing infrastructure projects, including the Tirana Big Ring Road project, Construction of the Llogara Tunnel, the Arbri Road, the Orikum-Dukat road, or the ongoing projects on the water supply and sewerage infrastructure, as well as urban development projects implemented by the Albanian Development Fund. The new state budget will also support the post-earthquake reconstruction programme.

Infrastructure

The state budget for the infrastructure is projected to total at around 52.87 billion lek, with the current expenditures estimated to amount to over 5.67 billion lek, and capital expenditures in the amount of 47.2 billion lek. The capital expenditures consist of state budget funding in the amount of 27.66 billion lek and foreign funds in the amount of 19.54 billion lek. Fiield workers, electricians, technicians and billers will receive a pay rise in 2024 with their monthly wage set to edge up to 70,000 lek. The increase will increase the seniority coefficient for every power worker.

Education (Wage increase for 30,000 teachers)

– The Ministry of Education and Sports spending under the 2024 draft-budget is projected to rise 10.7% year-on year to 52.223 billion lek or around 5.49 billion lek more than the initial 2023 state budget. The government of Albania also plans to earmark a fund of 4 billion lek for the Ministry of Education and Sports to support the teachers’ pay rise under the 2024 budget, with the total education spending projected to amount to 56. 223 billion lek or 9. 49 billion lek more than the initial budget for 2023.

In addition to a significant wage increase for teachers expected to enter into force by July 2024, the state budget will also support the school texts for free program, the teachers and schoolchildren transport, improvement of the educational infrastructure in schools of pre-university education system, as well as an increase in grants for the public university system.

The education spending is projected to further expand funding support for the higher education degree programs, internationalization and scientific research programs, and provide support for university students. The 2024 state budget will also support sports by introducing more sport disciplines in schools across the country as part of the sports in schools movement, and will support elite sports.

Health

The 2024 will fund the pay rise for doctors and health workers across country; will support improvement of the work conditions and the hospital autonomy reform. The government plans to increase wages for around 22,000 health workers. The increased health funds will focus mainly on:

-wage hike for health personnel

-Primary health care and hospital services

– Approved care service packages in public and non-public hospitals

-Infrastructure of the public hospital services

Agriculture

The 2024 budget spending on Agriculture and Rural Development support efforts to build a sustainable future of the Albanian agriculture. This budget earmarks a fund of 14.18 billion lek and supports 9 development programs in all its sectors: wage increase; expansion of the agriculture, livestock and fish exports map; improvement of the irrigation infrastructure; strengthening food security; increasing funds for the National Support Scheme; sustainable management of agricultural lands through digitalization; increasing assistance to farmers.”

-PAY RISE

A wage increase reform was a national priority for the Albanian government in 2023. The new wage reform bill was adopted in April, delivering on a significant pay rise for the public administration, health, education system workers, and security employees, etc.

-University lecturers received a significant wage increase of 20%.

-Minimum wage for nurses was increased according to job position and category.

-The salaries of the Armed Forces and entire security system workers were increased significantly. Fire fighters also received increased wages.

-The wage increase policy already underway in 2023 will continue under 2024 budget with the average salary expected to rise to 900 euros a month within next year.

-PENSION INDEXATION

Pensioners across the country received an 8.6% rise in their state pension payment since October 1 to compensate for the surging food prices.

The government decision projects the pension indexation at a rate of 8.6 % for all pension categories and invalidity payments.

More than 767,000 citizens from all over the country will benefit from the measure. In addition to the pension increase, the retired people are also entitled to a traditional year-end bonus in December.

– SCREENING PROCESS

Albania has taken another significant step on the path towards integration into the European Union as it completed the so-called screening process as part of EU accession negotiations.

Albania has successfully completed the screening process for six thematic clusters in Brussels in November.

the screening process lasted 14 months, during which 777 presentations, took place with involvement of over 1500 Albanian experts and 1000 European Commission experts.  A total of 300 explanatory and bilateral meetings on reviewing alignment of national legislation with EU acquis have been held since 2022. Completion of this process brings Albania closer to the European Union and makes the country more prepared for the next integration stages.

The next stage includes opening the first fundamentals cluster. It provides a fresh impetus for more intense commitment in order to speed up Albania’s EU accession process.

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