Albania Q1 2008 Main Economic Indicators

TIRANA, June 23 – The Index of Sales in the first quarter 2008 achieved 86.5 percent, an increase of 13.5 percent compared with the previous quarter, according to the Institute of Statistics. About 61.9 percent of the total decrease is caused by the trade hotels and restaurant industries.
Compared with the first quarter 2007, the sales level increased by 23.7 percent.
The index of sales in the Extracting Industry sector increased by 6.3 percent compared with the previous quarter. The Extracting energy products sector, with a 9.3 percent increase in sales, while the sales in the branch of extracting non-energy products have increased by 2.3 percent.
In the manufacturing industry sector, the index of sales has decreased by 4.3 percent compared to the previous quarter. In this sector, the branches that result with a considered decrease are: Wood industry (35.3 percent), Chemical industry (30.4 percent), Plastic industry (26.0 percent), and other non-metallic mineral industry (16.9 percent). Compared with the first quarter 2007, the sales of Manufacturing Industry have increased by 9.4 percent.
Compared with previous quarter sales in Electric Energy, Gas and Water, results showed an increase of 20 percent. Compared with the same period of the previous year, the level of sales has increased by 24.8 percent.
In Construction in the first quarter of 2008, the Index of Sales decreased by 27.9 percent compared with the previous quarter. Compared with the same period of the previous year, the Sales Index has increased by 39.7 percent.
In Trade, Hotels and Restaurants, the Index of Sales during the first quarter showed a decrease by 18.8 percent compared with the previous quarter. Compared with the first quarter 2007, the level of sales increased by 22.1 percent In Transport and Telecommunication, the Index of Sales in the first quarter 2008 showed an increase of 2.0 percent compared with the previous quarter, signing a decrease of sales level in Transport by 7.9 percent while in Telecommunication an increase by 7.5 percent
Compared with the first quarter 2007, the Index of Sales increased by 12.4 percent. The Index of Sales in the Other Branches of Economy decreased by 13.3 percent compared to the previous quarter.
The main impact have been seen in Education and Other activities of social and personal services with an increase of, respectively, 54.7 percent and 8.0 percent compared with the previous quarter.
Also, compared with the first quarter 2007, the other branches of industry have increased by 44.0 percent.
The Consumer Price Index, during the first quarter 2008, saw a 101.4 percent rise as opposed to December 2007, and showed an increase of 2.4 percent compared to the previous quarter. Compared with first quarter 2007 the index showed an increase of 3.7 percent.
The export of goods in the first quarter 2008 is 25,385 million lek, or 5.7 percent more than the previous quarter, and 11.3 percent more, compared with the same period from the previous year.
The imports of goods in the first quarter 2008, is 95,478 million lek or 10.8 percent less than the fourth quarter 2007 and 15.5 percent more than the same period in the previous year.
The percentage of coverage of exports by imports in the first quarter 2008 was 26.6 percent.
The countries of the European Community accounted for some 84.1 percent of exports and 61.1 percent of imports.
In the first quarter 2008, the Labor Force in the country was 1080.1 thousand persons compared with the fourth quarter 2007 which closed with 1081.8 thousand persons. At the end of first quarter, the number of registered unemployed persons decreased from 142,821 thousand persons in 140,809 thousand, so the level of unemployment for this period achieves 13.04 percent.
The level of the average amount of payment for families under social protection this quarter increased compared with the fourth quarter from 4,040 lek to 5,556 lek.
The minimum wage in this quarter is 16,000 lek and the base level of unemployment benefit increased to 5.980 lek.
The average monthly wage in the public sector increased from 35,650 lek to 35,800 lek.