Euro’s free fall, sharp hike in business closures hit Albania government revenue

By Ervin Lisaku TIRANA, Dec. 10 – The euro’s free fall and more business closures are hitting government revenue which continue underperforming even after a mid-year budget cut. Finance ministry data shows budget revenue grew by a moderate 3.8 percent over January-October 2018, but missed the target by 2 percent or 8 billion lek (€64.5 mln) for the first ten months of this year. The government claims the considerable strengthening of Albania’s national currency, lek, against Europe’s single currency and the US dollar has had the main effect on the underperformance, making imports cheaper and as a result reducing tax…