Oil, Budget’s black hole
23/03/2012 00:00
Tear gas and water cannons amid the clashes in the DP opposition protest which ended after three hours in Tirana 26/11 21:13
The government has admitted that the foreign companies that export
millions of USD in oil from Albania have not paid any tax on profit for
the last eight years. The Minister of Economy, Nasip Naco, said that the
companies have been declared with losses.
The companies declared hundreds of millions of dollars in payment expenses. Mr. Naco declared that the government is unable to verify if the balances are regular or abusive, since there is no expertise for it.
“That’s all the knowledge that we have in this area. It is the National Agency of Petroleum the one that checks them. We haven’t been able to make an accurate inspection”, Naco declared.
According to him, the Socialist Party is partially responsible for the fact that the budget takes no money from the oil reserves, since they signed the concessionary agreement in 2004.
Some days earlier the government approved the law for the privatization of Albpetrol, which inspects the concessionary oil agreements.
The oil experts have calculated that 900.000 tons of oil have been produced annually, or more than 450 million USD. One day ago, during an interview for Top Channel, Erjon Brace, declared that the state budget has earned only 20 million USD from the oil concessions.
Top Channel
