Albania’s trade gap reached 31.5 billion lek in April 2011, up 21 percent compared to the previous month and up 22.4 percent year-on-year
TIRANA, May 23 – Lower exports and higher imports continued to negatively affect Albania’s trade deficit for the second month in a row this year. Latest data published by the country’s Institute of Statistics this week showed Albania’s trade gap reached 31.5 billion lek (315 million dollars) in April 2011, up 21 percent compared to the previous month and up 22.4 percent year-on-year. The situation was a result of lower exports which dropped by 16.3 percent compared to March 2011 but were up 19.5 percent compared to April 2010. Meanwhile, imports continued their growing trend, registering a 21 percent increase compared to the previous month and rising 22.4 percent compared to April 2010. The European Union remained Albania’s main trade partner even last December, accounting for 69.5 percent of Albania’s exports and imports. Italy remained the top trade partner with 61.4 percent of total exports and 28.9 percent of imports followed by neighboring Greece with 5.6 percent of exports and 10.8 percent of imports. The import of excise goods, whose majority of around 78 percent is made up of oil products, grew by 26.7 percent compared to last March. Excise good imports were worth 5.8 billion lek last April accounting for 12.8 percent of total imports. This is also a result of higher excise taxes which the government has been applying on some products since the beginning of this year.
Starting from this year, Albanian consumers are facing higher cigarette and medicine prices following a government decision to increase the tobacco excise tax by 20 lek per cigarette pack and impose a 10 percent VAT on medicines. INSTAT data show the exports list from January-April 2011 was topped by “textile and footwear products” which rose by 16 percent year-on-year reaching 21.6 billion lek. Second came “minerals, fuel and electricity” whose exports rose by 36 percent to 16.3 billion lek, up from 13.9 billion lek in the first four months of 2010. The considerable increase in this group is a result of high electricity exports during the first quarter of this year. Exports of “construction materials and metals” rank third with 14.7 billion lek compared to only 8.4 billion lek in the first four months of 2010. Meanwhile, the top four on the import list of 2011 include “machinery, equipment and spare parts” at 32.4 billion lek, up from 26.8 billion lek during the same period in 2010– indicating that despite difficulties, businesses are still increasing investments in technology. Second came “food, beverages and tobacco” at 29.2 billion lek followed by “construction material and metals” and “mineral fuel and electricity” at 27.2 billion lek and 26.2 billion lek respectively. INSTAT data show the textile and footwear industry was the main exporter in 2010 with 55.6 billion lek followed by “minerals, fuel and electricity” with 45 billion lek, accounting for 34 percent and 28 percent of total exports respectively. The garment and footwear industry, which employs more than 40,000 workers overcame the 2009 crisis when exports dropped by 8 percent because of lower demand from its traditional trading partners who were severely hit by the global crisis. INSTAT data show exports of this group grew by 13 percent year-on-year in 2010. The “minerals, fuel and electricity” exports more than doubled compared to 2009 due to huge electricity sales following heavy rains which significantly improved water levels in the country’s northern hydropower plants– where officials had been forced to open the flood gates several times to protect the dams, flooding thousands of hectares of land and hundreds of homes. Albania is a net importer of food products with a considerable negative trade balance. According to the IMF’s projections, Albania’s trade balance (goods and services) will account for -22.7 of the GDP in 2010 and is expected to drop to -19.2 percent of the GDP by 2013, down from an estimated -25 percent in 2009. Figures for 2010 show that Albania recovered from the crisis and that it is reaching its usual pace of trade flow, according to a report by the Albanian Centre for Competitiveness and International Trade (ACIT) Albania’s trade deficit at the end of 2010 amounted to 319 billion ALL and decreased by 2.6% as compared to 2009. The boost of exports is a main factor in this positive performance.
