TIRANA, Aug  22 /ATA/ Minister of Finance and Economy, Delina Ibrahimaj, stated on Monday that economy has fared well during the first 7 months of this year despite that fact that it has been affected by the impact of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The economy is performing at a positive pace, confirming the effectiveness of the measures that the government has taken so far to boost growth and guarantee the sustainability of economic and fiscal parameters,” she said at the monthly press conference on developments in the economy.

The minister said that despite the rising inflation trends, the Albanian economy performed well both in terms of economic growth, labor market indicators and even trade.

“On the other hand, the indirect data for the indicators of the second quarter and partly of the third quarter show that the growth has continued bringing about a position effect in order to maintain the level of consumption and further increase in the level of investments,” she added.

Ibrahimaj emphasized that the policies undertaken played a positive role in keeping inflation in check compared to countries in the region.

According to her, inflation in July was 7.5%, while the average for the 7-month is reckoned at 5.3%.

“As  compared to the countries of the region, inflation in Albania is lower thanks to the fiscal and monetary policies in place. In North Macedonia, inflation was 16%, in Kosovo 14.2%, in Serbia 12.8%, while the average in EU countries was 8.9%,” she said.

Minister Ibrahimaj emphasized that the stability of the economy also speaks of a positive response of business to what is happening in the international markets, whether in their investment behavior and expectations for the medium-term future.

According to her, the total income in the January-July period is estimated at 326.7 billion ALL or 15.9% more than in the same period of 2021.

“The level of income growth compared to last year is significantly higher than the increase in consumer prices, which means that the economy has fared well compared to a year earlier,” said Ibrahimaj.

/sm/