Albania’s energy crisis negatively affects economy
TIRANA, Sep. 7 – Data released from the Institute of Statistics shows that the energy crisis in the country is having an increasingly negative impact on the economy.
INSTAT announced that the cost of production rose by 2.7 percent in the first eight months this year compared to a year ago.
The Albanian Power Corporation, KESH, has asked for an electricity price hike next year because of the higher cost of imports and low output at home due to the latest drought.
“We are preparing our request for the regulatory agency, and it is this institution that will decide if we are to have a price hike,” said KESH head Gjergj Bojaxhi.
KESH has imposed power cuts up to 15 hours per day across the country.
Most of Albania’s power generation, or 98 percent, depends on hydro-electric plants, which have been adversely affected by a long drought this summer and the previous winter.
Businessmen have opposed KESH’s request to raise prices, arguing they would be willing to pay more only if the supply was improved.
“We would accept to pay a higher price if we did not have to suffer such massive power cuts” said Gjergj Buxhuku of Konfindustria, an association of Albanian businessmen.
The International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the central Bank of Albania have expressed their concern that the energy crisis would have an adverse effect on Albania’s economic growth.
Power shortages in 2006 cost Albania one per cent of GDP growth, according to the Ministry of Finance.
