TIRANA, Oct. 13 – Small businesses, the leading force in Albanian economy, suffered a decline in activity during the first half of 2019, according to an observation made by the Bank of Albania. The BoA reported that sales of small enterprises dropped during this period (net balance of -23.4 percent), denoting a deterioration in comparison to the previous six months as well as the year prior to that. On the other hand, the situation proved to be positive for medium-sized and big businesses, which showed strong net balance sheets for sales (respectively by +7.1 percent and +12.5 percent), yet still in decline when compared to the previous half-year.
Over 85 percent of the businesses in question declared profit during the period, 92.6 percent of which were big businesses and 85 percent of which were small businesses, indicating poorer performance by the latter. Regarding expectations about the rate of general sales during the upcoming six months, all three groups of enterprises appear to be positive, anticipating an increase of the sales rate. The subjects expressed more optimism as opposed to the past six months and the year before.
Currently, results appear to be similar to the financial outcome of the first half of 2019, following the progress of general sale balance sheets. Therefore, small businesses continue to display a decline in their financial outcome with a net balance of negative 21.9 percent, in contrast to previous time periods.On the contrary, medium-sized and big businesses demonstrate positive balance sheets of their financial outcomes during this period, respectively by +3.3 percent and +12.4 percent, although worse in comparison to the previous period.
