Construction industry sees some light at the end of the tunnel, but manufactures really hurting, Albanian companies tell visiting IMF delegation
By Tirana Times Staff
TIRANA, Nov. 15 – Albanian businesses are suffering from a squeeze in the ability to get credit and weak demand for manufactured goods, representatives of Albanian companies have told a visiting IMF delegation.
IMF representatives held a meeting with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania during their visit to Tirana last week to collect the opinion of companies in various industries.
The IMF officials were interested in finding out how projects were performing in the market in areas like the finance, transport, communication, manufacturing and other industries.
Manufacturing business representatives said their companies have been hit hardest by the crisis, because they have liquidity and credit issues, which now come at a very high price.
They added that it is very difficult to obtain credit and even if one invests in the loan, he or she ends up spending all the profits to pay the loan back.
From October 2008 to August 2009, there was a decline from 30 to 40 percent in business, said a manufacturing industry representative.
There is some progress in the construction sector, where despite complex problems, there has been an unexpected increase in work, according to industry representatives. But there are still issues problems with the sale of apartments and other facilities.
According to construction industry officials, there are many objects that have been left half-built since the problems started in the industry two years ago. And bad mortgage loans have tripled since the crisis started.
Some AmCham members indicated that the crisis is slowly getting better and if Albania holds on for another six months in this situation, economic growth with certainly start again, according to a report of the meeting published in the chamber’s monthly magazine.
Representatives from the transport and tourism industries said they have seen increased business during the first six months of the year, and they have noticed a growing number of visitors, even though this has been influenced by the tourist season.
