Albania's public debt reaches 8.3 billion euros

SManalysis

Albania's public debt continues to remain at risky levels threatening the economy. The latest official data from the Ministry of Finance show that at the end of the first quarter of the year, public debt amounted to 8.3 billion euros, being over twice as high as the state budget.

According to Finance statistics, only in the first three months of the year public debt has increased by 200 million euros, compared to the end of 2016, it has increased by more than half a billion euros.


Albania's public debt grew steadily over the past four years. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, compared with 2013, public debt has increased by 2 billion euros, as a result of record borrowing especially in 2013-2015.

The government justified the growth of debt with the repayment of arrears to private businesses. Even as it came to power it raised taxes by 350 million euros, a sacrifice that according to her was necessary to lower the high public debt.

But the data show that, although taxes are heavily burdened, the country's public debt not only has not been reduced according to the program, but stands at hazardous levels for the economy.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have classified high debt as the greatest risk for the Albanian economy. In 2014, when the government signed the agreement with the IMF, it agreed on a detailed program for debt reduction and its return to 60 percent of national output by 2018.