Exports overcome contraction with modest 0.1% pickup for 2016

TIRANA, Jan, 17 – Fuelled by the resumption of electricity sales and a pickup in commodity prices in late 2016, Albania’s exports registered a turning point last December ending 2016 with a growth rate just slightly above zero following a 5 percent decline in 2015 when exports returned to negative growth rates after contracting in 2009 soon after the onset of the global financial crisis, according to state statistical institute, INSTAT. Albania’s exports rose by a mere 0.12 percent to 243.5 billion lek (€1.75 billion) in 2016 covering only 42 percent of the country’s total imports which rose by 6.3…