IMF warning, Kodheli: Government to take measures

“We have taken all measures so that the Albanian economy will get affected even less or not at all by the regional developments. This means that there will be no direct implications by the events in the neighbors’ economy”, Bode declared.

But the opposition MP, Mimi Kodheli, declared that the Albanian government, the Albanian banks and all institutions that are responsible for the financial situation in Albania must face this problem as soon as possible. She adds that Albania’s situation is not what the government presents through institutions like INSTAT.

The Finance Minister says that the government avoided the crisis by tightening the budget:

“We returned the lowest deficit in our country. During the crisis we were able to decrease the public debt with an annual deficit of 3% and a decrease of 0.7%. This shows the care and conscience of our government for keeping our macro-economic stability and for keeping the Albanian economy out of the crisis”, Bode declared.

But for Mimi Kodheli, the debt is the biggest current problem of the economy.

“We hear the government representatives saying that they are under the 60% limit with the debt. A country like Albania needs a debt level under 40%. The average in developing countries is 47%”, Kodheli declared.

The Socialist vice leader argued that the budget is the one threatening the banking system.

“The government has big debts towards the business for unpaid public works. It also has big debts with the VAT reimbursement, and this means that the problems are big. The government has transferred the debts that it has today with the business in another system, which is the banking system”, Kodheli declared.

But the Minister of Finances says that the banks are safe and strictly supervised.

“The banks that operate in our market are supervised by the Bank of Albania, as the supervising authority. These banks are well capitalized and in a healthy financial status”, Bode declared.

The last IMF report warns that the Eurozone crisis might have strong consequences in the Albanian economy, asking urgent measures for decreasing the high public debt and for regulating the finances.

For the first time there is a detailed official document that scans the Albanian economy. IMF says that the Eurozone crisis might bring dangerous consequences to the country.

“Albania has strong ties with Greece and Italy, not only in commerce, but also in the job market and banking system. The latter might result with substantial consequences, the biggest danger of which is that Albania’s banking system might get infected”, the report says.

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