Albania loses 20 places in Global Enabling Trade report

TIRANA, April 1 – Albania has lost 20 places in the past couple of years in the Global Enabling Trade 2014 report published by the World Economic Forum on deteriorating business environment and market access. Poor border administration and infrastructure also influenced on Albania ranking 69th in the 2014 report compared to 49th in the 2012 report.
The report shows the operating environment ranks Albania 85th out of 138 countries, a sharp deterioration compared to 2012 when the country ranked 54th.
Albania ranked 90th on infrastructure and 70th in border administration.
A survey conducted as part of the report shows identifying potential markets and buyers is the most problematic factor for exporting for 26.4 percent of respondents. Second comes access to trade finance with 22.3 percent of respondents followed by technical requirements and standards abroad with 9.7 percent, rules of origin requirements abroad with 8.8 percent, tariff barriers abroad with 8.6 percent.
As far as the most problematic factors for importing are concerned, the report ranks corruption at the border as a top concern for 27.7 percent of respondents, followed by tariffs with 23.2 percent and burdensome import procedures with 22.3 percent.
The Enabling Trade Report measures the extent to which individual economies have developed institutions, policies, and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to destination. The structure of the Index reflects the main enablers of trade, breaking them into four overall issue areas such as market access, border administration, the transport and communications infrastructure, and business environment.