Speaking at an event marking the 35th anniversary of the ruling Socialist Party in the city of Berat, Rama said the central question facing Albania was what type of economy it wanted to build over the next decade.

“The real debate today is what kind of Albania we want to have in five, 10 or 15 years and how we will achieve economic development,” Rama said.

He rejected suggestions that the discussion surrounding the Zvërnec project was primarily about environmental protection, saying biodiversity conservation and protected landscapes would remain government priorities regardless of investment plans.

Rama argued that Albania could not continue increasing gross domestic product, wages, pensions and consumption without moving beyond mass tourism toward higher-value tourism offerings.

He said Albania had benefited from the rapid growth of mass tourism in recent years but warned that the model alone was not sustainable in the long term.

The government head noted that large tourism projects could generate wider economic benefits by creating demand for local agricultural products and supporting related sectors, including farming and livestock production.

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Addressing a Socialist Party Assembly in Lushnja, Rama said foreign direct investment had risen sharply compared with previous levels.

“We started with an average of 300–400 million euros in foreign investment. We have now exceeded 1.5 billion,” he said.

He also pointed to growth in tourism, saying Albania had moved from just over two million visitors annually to much higher figures in recent years.

“We started with a bit over two million tourists. Now we have reached 12 million people entering Albania with foreign passports,” he said.

Rama added that the economy had expanded significantly since his party took office, noting that gross domestic product had risen from under 10 billion euros to around 27 billion euros, with a target of 35 billion euros by 2030.

He said GDP per capita had increased from below 3,000 euros to around 11,300 euros.

“We started with a very low average wage. Today, the overall average wage is 870 euros, and it continues to rise steadily due to growth in the private sector. In the public sector it has exceeded 1,000 euros,” he said.

The prime minister also highlighted wage increases for doctors, teachers, police officers, military personnel and public administration staff.

Rama said the government had introduced wage indexation to inflation, extending a mechanism previously applied only to pensions.

“We used to index pensions because we could not leave pensioners exposed to inflation. Now every salary is indexed to inflation,” he said, adding that the measure helps preserve purchasing power despite price pressures.

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In his remarks, PM Rama underlined that Albania’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow to around 35 billion euros by the end of this decade.

The government head highlighted that the country’s GDP has almost tripled to over 25 billion euros in 2024 from around 10 billion euros in 2013, when the ruling Socialists took office.

Rama said that the country’s GDP growth should be seen in the region’s context, with Albania recording the highest GDP increase rate compared to other Western Balkan countries during the past 10 years. According to him, Albania’s GDP has increased by 109.6%, up from the region’s average of around 64%.

The government head noted that the income per capita has trebled from 3300 euros in 2013 to a total of 10324 euros in 2025, while the government projects the income per capital to edge up to 15000 euros by 2030.

Speaking about the country’s public debt, Rama underlined that public debt has fallen to 54% from 70.4% in 2013, noting that the previous centre-right government had also accumulated around 700 million euros in unpaid bills to the business community for finished public works and services, VAT and profit tax refunds.

Rama stated that the non-performing loans ratio had also fallen to 4.2%, significantly down from 24.8% in 2013.

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Citing official data, the government head noted that economy is growing constantly and the public and private sector wages are incomparably higher now.

“When we took office, around a quarter of a century after the collapse of dictatorship, Albania’s Gross Domestic Product was estimated at 12.7 billion dollars. Within a decade, Albania’s GDP has doubled to over 25 billion dollars,” PM Rama said in his address to the National Assembly of the ruling Socialists that took place in the coastal city of Durres.

“Economy is growing steadily and that’s why wages are incomparably higher, not only in the public administration, where the average monthly wage is 900 euros, but also in the private sector, especially in the priority sectors of the country’s development, where the wages are actually much higher than the reported wage level, despite the significant yet insufficient progress in the fight against informality,” PM Rama said.

The government head also noted that the country’s public debt is below 60%, although the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and the pandemic in the last five years.

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On quarterly comparison basis, the country’s economy expanded by 2.30% in the July-September period.

According to INSTAT, in the third quarter of 2023, the main contributors to the country’s economic growth were construction and the real estate sector.

INSTAT said in its quarterly growth report that agriculture, forestry and fisheries fell by 0.50 %, whereas the country’s industry, energy and water sector decreased by 2.89 % in the third quarter.

The construction sector grew by 4.72 %. Trade, transport, accommodation and food service group declined by 0.77 %.

The information and communications group rose 8.97%, financial and insurance activity increased by 4.50%. Real estate activity increased 12.20%, the professional services and administrative services group increased by 7.55%.

The public administration, education and health rose 11.18 %, the group arts, entertainment and recreation services, other services surged by 11.28%. Net Taxes on products increased by 2.87%.

Household final consumption which shares an important part in total economy had an increase by 2.06%.

General government consumption rose 12.28%. Exports of goods and services increased by 17.91%, while Imports of goods and services decreased by 2.05%.

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According to the official data published by the Albanian Institute of Statistics-INSTAT, in the first quarter of 2021, the Gross Domestic Product-GDP  increased by 5.53%, compared to the first quarter of 2020, and also marked an increase of 2.29% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.

The Albania’s Minister of Finance and Economy, Anila Denaj announced on Tuesday that, the main sectors of the economy that have contributed to the GDP growth are industry sector by  2.56%, construction by 1.09%; public administration, education and health by 0.97%.

According to INSTAT, household final consumption expenditure increased by 1.49%, while Ggovernment final consumption expenditure (GFCE) increased by 5.16%.

Exports of goods and services increased by 0.66%, while imports increased by 7.55%. //a.i/