Albanian products do not compete with neighbors

The agreement had a strong backing from the European Union and today is helping trade in the region, improving commercial exchanges.

But what is the Albanian economy benefiting from it? Official data say that during 2010, imports from 5 CEFTA countries of the region reached 391 million USD, while exports were only 164 million, or 2.4 times more.

Last year, the commercial deficit in these countries, according to INSTAT, was about 27 million USD. Albania’s commercial balance is negative with almost all neighboring countries. The only country to which Albania exports more than it imports is Kosovo.

These numbers show that Albanian goods are less competitive than those of the neighbors, and the economy is not turning the regional trade liberalization in its favor as is does for our neighbors. Only in the first four months, our northern neighbor, Serbia, sold to regional countries 400 million USD more goods than it purchased from them. Another country that is advancing in this territory is Croatia.

Data show that the Albanian economy has difficulties to compete not only with developed countries, but also with countries with similar economy, like Macedonia, with which there is a negative commercial balance of 50 million USD. Commerce with regional countries, according to experts, also plays as a test for valuing the economy strength, because unlike with the developed countries, in the region cannot be sold goods that are based on cheap labor or natural resources, but goods in which Albanian businesses have created advantages.

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