The government’s foreign debt increased with 425 million EUR, or more
than 18%, within one year, marking one of the strongest growths during
the past years.
Recent data from the Bank of Albania show that by the end of the third trimester, the public foreign debt reached 2.807 billion EUR, from 2.383 that it was in the same period of one year ago.
According to the bank, the growth is due to the loans Albania received from IMF and the WB. The left coalition asked 600 million EUR from these institutions as soon as coming to power.
The current foreign debt makes 42.6% of the total public debt, or 29.1% of the GDP.
The foreign loans has been seen as a good way to receive currency and to find the economy without affecting the internal resources.
But its growth exposes the economy to two risks: currency exchange and refudning. Due to the weaker Lek last year, the foreign debt increased with 9.6 billion ALL.
The constant growth has also increased the payments that go for its services.
The budget paid 26 billion ALL during the past year, ore 200 million USD more to pay the foreign debt. 17.8 billion of which were for paying loans that were received during the past years. 8.2 billion were interests.
Some of the debts that Albania has received during the transition years are now maturated and must be paid. This forces the budget to guarantee funds in foreign currency. To minimize this risk, the government is determined to not increase the foreign debt more than 45% of the total.
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