Artan Paska
apernaska@tiranatimes.com
The Ministry of Finance has belated the publication of budgetary statistics by six months, reports the local press (Shqip, 12.05.2009). The newspaper believes this to be the consequence of not very flattering results in the county’s budgetary management. The undisclosed data were finally made transparent by the statistics released by the Bank of Albania (BoA) which shows a confined growth of 3 % of customs and taxes revenue for the first trimester as compared to last year.
News reporter and analyst Gjergj Erebara assesses that the confined growth in customs and taxes revenue (3 %) expresses the economic difficulties that the Albanians are facing. He profiles tax revenue as a mirror of consumption and economic activity on the whole and estimates that with a 5 % economic growth, as the government advances, tax revenue should at least grow by 8 %.
The Albanian government is reported to have foreseen the increase in revenue collection by 12.2 % and Erebara accounts that the tax revenues are historically higher in the first part of the year and decrease in the second part, suggesting a deepening downturn for the remainder of the year.
The Minister of Finances, Ridvan Bode, is reported to have declared earlier that the Central budget revenue was completed at 100 %, explaining that deficit in income was created by townships and municipalities. The BoA statistics are shown to bring a contradiction to that assumption as they display that municipal revenues have grown at a quicker pace.
The Central budget revenue has meanwhile been fulfilled with revenue that does not come from tax collection, such as transfer of benefits from the Bank of Albania (BoA) and privatizations income.
On the other hand, total expenditures for the first trimester grew by 43 % as compared to last year. It is reported that these expenditures were not all allocated to the Durr쳠- Kuk쳠road and that operative and maintenance spending, such as for phone calls, chancellery, fuel and small maintenance, grew (hors tendency) by 44 %.
The dissymmetry between confined revenue collection and vibrant spending rhythms is generally believed to be spurred by “achievements haste fever” at the nearing electoral deadlines.
