Albania needs further support for SMEs

TIRANA, Oct. 24 – The pre-EU accession economies of the Western Balkans and Turkey, including Albania have improved their business climates in the past three years, but governments need to implement more targeted policies to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) if they want to boost wider growth and employment, says a new joint report by the OECD, the European Commission, the European Training Foundation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The SME Policy Index: Western Balkans and Turkey 2012 – Progress in the implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe was released in Zagreb, Croatia, at an entrepreneurship summit co-hosted by the Croatian government, the European Commission and the South East European Centre of Entrepreneurial Learning.
The report is the result of a nearly two-year assessment process in partnership with governments and the private sector, supports policy makers in setting measurable targets to further improve the SME environment.
Strengthening the institutions that support SMEs, increasing inter-agency cooperation, and boosting skills development and export promotion, the report notes differences in performance across the region:
Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Montenegro have implemented business-friendly policies and improved their registration systems, but need to make a greater effort to boost innovation and provide support services to both start-ups and more established firms.
True that Albania has not been so much affected by the global financial crisis. But it still needs to do a lot to cope with its negative impact.
Albania has dropped two places to rank 85th out of 185 economies in “Doing Business 2013” report released by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Wednesday. The report explained that the drop in rank of Albania was because of the rapid steps taken by other countries, while it also has room to improve in Dealing with Construction Permits (185th place), Getting Electricity (154th place), paying taxes (160th place).
The report calculates the indicators of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers.