TIRANA - Top Channel, the largest television network in Albania, aired today a special news report about the financial situation of the Albanian government. According to the report, the Albanian government collected $32.5 million less than predicted in tax revenues for the eight-month period of 2011. For August alone, the gap was $17 million less than the forecast in the already curtailed budget. The public investments decreased with $27 million for 2011. This is the third year in a row that Albanian government reports losses in revenues and, consequently, sharp decreases in public investments. And as it has done in previous years, Albanian government will be forced to cut the budget further, third time this year. It can’t raise the public debt due to the limit of 60%, provided by the law, although many experts believe that public debt is higher than it is reported by government agencies.
The government officials, starting with prime minister, never comment on such bad news for the economy; they keep floating in a dazing trance of another dimension, where Albanians have a stronger economy than the Germans.
Based on the real situation of the Albanian economy, we in respublica.al made a daring forecast: that before the general elections of 2013, the country will collapse financially under the heavy burden of public debts. The recent news proves that the government seems to have headed that way.
A.Kola
We all are aware that this
We all are aware that this government is a failure since at its dawn. However, I hope for this prediction not to be fullfilled. The majority of the Albanian people do not agree with the desicions of the government and its destructive policies. On the other hand it is not advisable to spread such rumors about the country's economy and its possible near-future collapse. Albania is a separate case of the world's economy and its behavior can be classified as being in a "safe harbor". Of course, the contry is not involved in structured financial transactions and it is much less exposed to the foreign markets. The cases if Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland are real case studies and their economies represent real concerns for the future of the EU economy. I would like to stress the simple fact that Albania is much more affected by the Greek and Italian current economical event. A collapse of these economies would automatically bring serious consequences to the Albanian economy. The Albanian economy per se does not represent any concern. It has carried the same features for years and years and it has been based on informality, corruption, and favoritism and frankly it is an undefined economy where the competition is absolutely inexistent. The market is well defined in terms of its segmentation and there is the absence of a leading economical class. The informality brings somehow an ease for financial troubles.
We keep hearing the opening of new small businesses every day which employ a new workforse even though the latter is underpaid. So being in a isolated position in the perspective of foreign financial transactions I can say that the future does not look so gloomy and disastruous. Making these kinds of predictions brings an unecessary sense of fear. If this happens, then the burden will fall on the next government and most importantly on our poor people.