TIRANA, June 15 – Albania has one of Europe’s lowest consumer prices but suffers the poorest consumption per capita, according to a report by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Albania’s food and non-alcoholic beverage prices were estimated at 68 percent of the EU 28 average in 2015, higher only compared to Macedonia’s 58 percent among regional EU aspirant competitors. However, within this group, prices of milk, cheese and eggs which are overwhelmingly domestically produced were rated at 93 percent of the EU average, considerably higher compared to regional countries.
The country’s alcoholic beverage and tobacco prices stood 23 percent and and 66 percent below the EU average in 2015.
When it comes to consumption, Albania’s Actual Individual Consumption, a measure of the households’ material welfare, is the lowest among 37 European countries, including 28 EU members, three EFTA states and six EU aspirants.
The actual individual consumption (AIC) per capita expressed in purchasing power standard (PPS), an artificial currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries, was at 37 percent of the EU average in 2015. AIC among regional competitors ranged from 38 percent in Bosnia and Herzegovina to 58 percent of the EU average in Turkey.
Similarly, Albania’s GDP per capita expressed in PPS was 70 percent below the EU average in 2015 better only compared to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 29 percent of the EU average.
Albania’s GDP per capita, an indicator for a nation’s economic situation, slightly rose to €3,440 in 2014 but remained among eight regional EU aspirants, according to data published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
At €3,440 in 2014, Albania’s GDP per capita was probably higher only compared to Kosovo whose 2013 GDP per capita was at €2,835. The GDP per capita in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey ranged from €3,641 to €7,819 in 2014.
However, when it comes to the size of the GDP, Albania leaves behind neighbouring Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. Albania’s GDP was estimated at about €10 billion in 2014 when the economy grew by 2 percent.
The Albanian economy has grown between 1 to 3 percent in the past seven crisis years compared to a pre-crisis decade of 6 percent annually.
