“Our production hinges on rainfall and snow, which for the third year in a row are much lower than up to three years ago. This leads to the point that almost half of the energy needs are covered by imports, while for several months now the world has plunged into an energy crisis,” said Rama.

The Prime Minister stressed that “in wake of war in Ukraine, the price per megawatt continues to soar at fastest pace ever, hour by hour, from 52 euros last year to 550 euros currently.”

“The chances are that the mind-boggling increase will persist and the forecasts go up to the skyrocketing amount of 1000 euros per megawatt hour. Since the first signs of the energy crisis emerged, the government has warned of challenging times ahead and has established a financial shield for families and small business,” said Rama.

Rama added that “today, Albania is probably the only country that has not increased its energy bill by a single penny.”

“Currently the import price per kilowatt has gone up to 61 lek, while family members continue to pay 9.5 lek per kilowatt,” said Rama.

The Prime Minister stressed that “this huge difference which is dreadful in economic terms is completely covered by the state, beyond the 45 million USD allocated every year from the state budget to compensate 2.5 lek per kilowatt for each family in need.”

“The extremely high cost of this shield like no other is increasing day to day and we will continue to fund it as much as we can. But everyone should be aware that for the time being the energy market is the biggest hostage to the war, which never brings good, but inflicts only pain. This war was not chosen by Albania and we Albanians can neither stop nor avoid it. We just have to cope with it with courage, faith and patience. “United, not divided,” said Rama. /m.m//a.a/sm/