Finances reject Berisha’s arguments

“If the public administration was paid in the past by using debts, during these years they have been paid with the budget revenues”, Berisha declared.

Since 2000, wages and pensions have never been funded with debts. The entire social and personnel bill is 46% of the total budget spending. If the government would be unable to collect at least this, our country would be bankrupt. But wages and pensions are not the only element of the public spending. The government also pays for the debt interest, for economic assistance, investments and maintenance of public assets. Things change here.

Each time that the Prime Minister has been accused of disorganizing the finances by increasing debt, he has always used this argument in his defense: “Since 2005 we haven’t taken any debt that is used for other spending than investments”,.

But this argument is off now. The deficit for the first six months of the year was 51 billion ALL, while investments only 41 billion. This means that the debt is not being taken only for investments, but also to pay the other spending, although part of the deficit is covered with the privatization revenues. Secondly, there are other indicators showing how the government is managing the finances. The primary deficit is the difference between the spending of the current year, which excludes the interests of the incomes collected in the budget. For the first six years of this year, the government has left a primary deficit that is 3% of the Gross Domestic Product. This means that Albania is increasing the debt and not just for investments that bring development. If this debt is paid for wages, pensions and other maintenance spending, or even to pay the debt, that would change everything.

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