From the first government meeting for this year, the Albanian Prime
Minister Sali Berisha wished that this New Year would mark an increased
well-being for the Albanians.
Although the EU crisis is expected to be long-term, the Prime Minister declared that the Albanian economy data give hope for what he called realistic optimism.
The Prime Minister analyzed two indicators: the general turnover of businesses and exports, comparing these data for the first 10 months of 2012 with the same period of one year ago.
According to the Prime Minister’s data, these indicators show an increase of 22 billion ALL, or 18%, which means that the domestic production has increased.
But the general turnover is more significant, according to the Prime Minister, because it shows that the purchasing power not only has not decreased, but it has increased with 101 billion ALL compared to the same period of 2011.
“For everyone who says that the purchasing power has plunged, this is a number that has been declared by businesses and that denies these voices in the best way. This doesn’t exclude the fact that some businesses might have had less profits, but the coutnry in general has an increase in the general turnover that definitely denies the idea that the purchasing power has fallen”, Berisha declared.
The government meeting coincided with the new law that removes VAT for all machineries in the production area, an act that according to the Prime Minister is the second most important, after the flat tax. With the removal of VAT for productive machineries in all businesses, the state budget lost 110 million EUR, but Berisha declared that in such difficult times for the global economy, what we are profiting is much more.
“With this step and others that are being reviewed, we are encouraging the domestic production and new jobs. We are reviewing for other measures to be taken. We stand to the principle that we will be able to face this long-term crisis and we will encourage the foreign and domestic businesses in Albania, and this is actually happening”, Berisha declared.
Rama: Berisha is copying our program
The opposition leader, Edi Rama, commented on Twitter one of the government decisions, saying that the Prime Minister is copying the Socialist program by removing VAT for production machineries. Rama says that he encourages Berisha to copy even more.
Rama posted another message in which he asks Prime Minister Berisha to remove the oil excise for agriculture, to increase the agriculture funds with five times and accredit the universities.
In another message the opposition leader says that the Prime Minister should do this at least before June, when the vote of a great majority of the country will remove him for power.
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