Albanian economy in good shape, elections slowed down reforms: EC quarterly report

The European Commission has released its third quarterly report on EU candidate countries, including Albania.

This report is a periodic one assessing the progress of candidate countries aiming to become part of the union, but also providing forecasts and projections for their economy.

In the chapter dedicated to Albania, namely in the section of the main developments, the emphasis is on the win of the ruling majority Socialist Party in the general elections, the visit of the International Monetary Fund and the positive words for the economy, but also on the slowdown of reforms as a result of the elections and the prolonged transition of the government.

As far as the macroeconomic framework is concerned, it has been positively assessed due to the momentum of the economy, which is gaining ground from FDI, mainly from TAP and Devolli HPPs, states the European Commission.

The recovery of exports, highlights the report, has had an impact on the economic growth of the country.

Even construction activity, consumer confidence and business confidence are estimated with very positive tones.

The banking sector and the financial sector as a whole are also highly appreciated.

“The banking sector as a whole is well-capitalized,” writes the report, while emphasizing the importance of the decline in non-performing loans and the balance of the loan ratio in foreign currencies to the ones in ALL.

Regarding the projections, they remain unchanged compared to the spring report, at 3.7% for this year, and 3.9% for the following year.

Despite this, Albania continues to be the country that according to Brussels will have the largest economic growth in the region for 2017 and 2018.

SCAN

*Material i përgatitur nga portali SCAN. Ripublikimi mund të bëhet vetëm kundrejt citimit të autorësisë dhe burimit origjinal.