Economic growth returns

“The economy had a 1.1% growth in the fourth trimester of 2013, compared to the same trimester of 2012”, declared Gjergji Filipi, General Director of the Institution of Statistics.

The sectors that have returned the economy in a growing trend are industry, construction and especially commerce, which has the biggest weight in the Gross Domestic Product.

“The agricultural activity in this trimester, compared to the same of one year ago, had a growth of 1.23%. The group of industries grew with 7.18%; the construction activity in the fourth trimester had a growth of 3.66%. The group of commerce, hotels and restaurants had a growth of 12% as a group. Within the group, commerce marked a 7% growth, while hotels and restaurants dropped”, Filipi declared.

Although recession has been avoided, the progress of production in the fourth trimester has not been able to bring the economy out of stagnation, by not reaching even the most minimal evaluations of the government and the International Monetary Fund. Both these institutions were expecting the economic growth to be around 0.7% for the entire year of 2013.

With the closure of the fourth trimester, we have the opportunity to make a preliminary evaluation for the entire 2013, which, supported with indicators of the Gross Domestic Product marked a 0.44 growth compared to 2012”, Filipi declared.

“With these figures, 2013 is confirmed as the most difficult year of the Albanian economy not only since the crisis, but for almost two decades, since 1997. The data show another fact: after 2011, the economy has seen a strong drop that doesn’t seem to come to an end.

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