TIRANA, Oct  10 /ATA/ Minister of Finance and Economy, Delina Ibrahimaj, stated on Monday that the Albanian economy has withstood relatively well the global shock in terms of the supply of energy and other basic goods when the war in Ukraine broke out.

Ibrahimaj appeared at a press conference alongside the IMF mission headed by Yan Sun who was in Albania for 2 weeks where she discussed with the Albanian authorities, in the framework of the Fourth Article of the IMF member countries arrangement. The Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gent Sejko, was also present at the conference.

“Economic growth for the first half of 2022 was relatively strong, 4.2%, driven mainly by domestic demand, such as consumption and investment, as well as net foreign demand. From the point of view of aggregate supply, growth during the first half has been broad-based, with almost all main supply sectors faring well. Unemployment during the first half of the year further decreased to 11.3%, while employment increased by about 4.3% from year to year,” said Minister Ibrahimaj.

Regarding the developments in the external position, during the first half of this year, Ibrahimaj emphasized that the current account deficit narrowed by about 10% on a year to year basis, as a result of the strong growth of exports of goods and services as well as remittances .

“Also, an increase of about 35% was recorded in the incoming flows of foreign direct investments. The exchange rate of the lek against the main currencies has generally been quite stable, while the fluctuation (devaluation or appreciation) against different currencies has mainly reflected the international conjuncture of the foreign exchange market. “Currently, the lek has depreciated against the US dollar by about 8% and has been overvalued against the euro by about 4% since the end of last year,” she said.

The minister emphasized that in the third quarter, the economy may have performed with a significantly higher growth rate than the second quarter influenced by tourist activity.

“Forecast for economic growth in the fourth quarter is characterized by by higher uncertainties, mainly depending on international economic developments. A slowdown in economic growth is likely to occur in the last quarter due to heightened uncertainties, erosion of real income from inflation and tightening of financial requirements,” she said.

In this context, the minister estimated that the projection for economic growth has been somewhat revised upwards, to 3.7%, from the 3.2% that we predicted when the war broke out.

/sm/