Global Courant 2023-05-02 14:01:19
In the first three months of 2023, the Albanian economy has experienced steady growth, influenced by the increase in prices and economic activity, while the public debt has decreased.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Delina Ibrahimaj, in the summary of the first three months, informed that the incomes continued to grow at an accelerated rate and the economic growth in Albania was among the highest in the region.
Likewise, the systematic fall in the value of the euro has had a positive effect, since the debt service costs are being significantly eased by this fact.
“Today we will summarize the data of the first quarter of the year. Economic growth in the country for 2022 was 4.8%, higher than what we had planned. For the last quarter, the increase was 4.7%, while we continue to maintain the same figure. Economic growth in the country last year was higher than the countries of the region. The only country that had higher growth was Montenegro. As for inflation, we had 6.7%, significantly lower than the EU average. Inflation indicators were lower, both for total inflation and for drinks and food. Albania’s figures were lower than the rest of the region. The main reasons are the policies undertaken by the Albanian government to support Albanian businesses and families, not changing costs, in order to keep consumption at satisfactory levels. It also affected the exchange rate, which had an appreciation against the euro, which is the main currency of trade exchanges. It has had an impact on import prices and has the main weight of domestic inflation.
In the first quarter specifically, revenues continued to grow at an accelerated rate during this period, totaling 16.2 billion ALL, 11.7%, compared to the plan of 3.67 billion ALL. The figure of 11.7% is significantly higher than the average inflation of 6.5%. The increase in income has been influenced by the increase in prices, but for the most part it is also economic activity. Revenues have increased by 16.7% for value added tax, a figure that helps us understand the first three months of the economy. This is also significantly higher than the 6.5% inflation. The profit tax +22.5% is closely related to that of 2022, this other figure showing the positive economic performance for the past year. Income tax increased 9.5%, 14.8% more social contributions. Extraordinary tax 14.1 billion ALL. Contributions by categories, construction sector +14.4%, production +31%, services +13.6%. Transport +24%, trade 11.2%.
In the first quarter, debt to GDP was 63.27% of GDP from 64.58% at the end of 2022. According to the structure, the largest weight is in external debt. Here I want to emphasize the importance of the exchange rate. The debt is identified and received in euros, the euro exchange rate has brought a decrease in the public debt, Ibrahimaj said.
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