Albania’s natural assets are producing huge profits, but most of it goes to a small group of companies rather than to its citizens.
The most flagrant case is that of oil exploitation.
Last year, Bankers Petroleum won 24 million EUR form the oil production at the Patos Marinza source.
Although it was the fifth company with the highest profit in Albania for 2018, it didn’t pay any tax on profit to the state budget, claiming that they haven’t earned back the investment cost.
The concessionary agreement signed in 2004 allows the company to not pay tax on profit until the sale revenues cover the expense.
The Albanian authorities suspect that part of the cost that Bankers is declaring as investments are fictive and artificially inflated, but the company denies it. This goes on for years, and so far Bankers have always been able to not pay anything to the state.
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