Economic growth drops again in 2013

In the new macro-economic framework 2015-2017 that was approved yesterday, the Ministry of Finances says that the economic growth dropped at 0.7% during the past year. This is the third time within a few months that the government corrects the official figure of the economic growth.

Right after taking power, in September 2013, the Socialist government declared together with the International Monetary Fund that the Gross Domestic Product growth would change from 1.7% to 1.9%. But only in a few months this changed to 1.3%.

The first signs that even this evaluation would drop, came when the Institution of Statistics publisehd the figures of the third trimester, which showed a strong contraction of the economy with 2.3% in annual terms. This obliged the government to reduce the evaluation for the economic growth to 0.7%, being the lowest since the beginning of the crisis. This is in fact the lowest growth in the entire transition period, besides 1997.

Albania turned this way the country with the lowest economic growth in Balkan. All other countries had an average growth of 1.7%. The international sources had warned in the beginning of 2013 that it would be a difficult year for the Albanian economy. But the economic slowdown is going beyond even the most conservatory predictions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, who declared that Albania’s economic growth would reach 1.5%.

The government hopes that 2013 marks the end of Albania’s stagnation. They expect the economy to grow this year, saying that the Gross Domestic Product will grow with 2.1% and that it will accelerate in 2015 and 2016 to 3.3 and 4.2%.

Top Channel