TIRANA, June 28- The inability to pay bills on time is becoming a major problem for the government and mostly for the long-term economic sustainability of the country. According to official data from the Ministry of Finance, overdue obligations to judicial decisions amounted to a total of 1.9 billion lek (15 million euros) at the end of 2018. They accounted for 31.1 percent of the total stock of backlogs worth 6.1 billion lek (49 million euros) reported by the central government by the end of 2018.
The overdue obligations arising from the non-execution of court decisions come mainly from the large influx of decisions on unfairly dismissed employees by public administrations. Although the government has aimed to reduce public administration through concentration of ministries, expenditures could not be kept under control as very often two salaries were paid for one function. The layoffs started with 2013 political rotation of 2013 and later in 2017 with the reforms for concentrating the ministries. Yet, the court decisions sided with the laid-off employees.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy reports that the liabilities created until December 2018 amount to 3.24 billion lek (26 million euros), mainly referring to the obligations of the Albanian Road Authority and National Water Supply and Sewerage Agency. The Ministry of Defense reports 988.9 million lek (8 million euros) of accumulated liabilities, most of which belong to the Civil Emergency Program.
The Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth reports that the obligations amount to 57.8 million lek (472 thousand euros) in accumulated liabilities for 2018. The Ministry of Justice reports that the total of arrears by December 2018 (progressive) is reported at the value of 77 million lek (630 thousand euros). Interestingly this institution managed to not create any new obligations in the last quarter of the year. Much of its liabilities refer mainly to the investment voice.
The Ministry of Health and Social Protection reports that there is a backlog of 377 million lek (3 million euros). The Ministry of Interior reported that its stock of liabilities by December 2018 is in the amount of 735.7 million lek (6 million euros). Further, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has accumulated 38.9 million lek (318 thousand euros). The ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs has a stock of liabilities of 11.3 million lek (92 thousand euros).
The Ministry of Finance and Economy has accumulated a stock of 340.4 million lek (2 million euros). The Ministry of Culture reported the liability stock until December 2018 is 3.8 million lek (31 thousand euros). The Ministry of Tourism and the Environment reported a stock of 195.2 million lek (1 million euros), and the General Directorate of Taxation has accumulated 105.2 million lek (860 thousand euros) backlogs for court decisions related to VAT reimbursement.
