TIRANA, Nov. 11 – The latest data presented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its “October 2019 Global Economic Outlook”, showed that Albania’s expected per capita income was 5,732 dollars during 2019, ranking Albania the 102nd in the world out of 192 countries, at levels similar to Iraq, Paraguay, Lebanon, Libya etc. Despite 30 years since the liberalization of the economy and the abundance of resources it possesses, Albania is still one of the poorest countries in Europe. The only countries with higher ranks were Kosovo with a per capita income of 4.442 dollars (111th rank) and former Soviet Union countries such as Ukraine (125th rank) and Moldova (128th).
The wealthiest of the countries in the region was Montenegro, with a per capita income of 8,703 dollars, 62% higher than that of Albania, followed by Serbia, ranked 87th with 7,398 dollars per capita, North Macedonia ( 6,096 dollars and placed 95th) and finally Bosnia and Herzegovina (97th place). The IMF also stated that data results for Albania remained unchanged since a decade ago (102nd rank), indicating that the economic growth was not higher than its neighboring countries nor did it lead to more welfare for its citizens. Based on the process of convergence, low income countries need to advance more rapidly in order to achieve the average EU standards; its members states currently have an average per capita income of 335.8 thousand dollars, which is seven times higher than that of Albania. Luxembourg is currently at the top ( 113,000 dollars), followed by Switzerland (83,717 dollars), Macao SAR (81,152 dollars), Norway ( 77,975 dollars), Ireland (77,771 dollars), Qatar ( 69,688 dollars), Iceland (67,037 dollars), United States of America (65,112 dollars) and Singapore ( 63,987 dollars).
While expectations were not met during this period for Albania, the future doesn’t seem so bright either. A majority of international institutions lowered their expectations further for the country’s economic growth in 2019. The IMF expects the country to grow by an average of 3%, according to the October Global Economic Outlook, from 3.7% which was anticipated in April, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects Albania to grow by 2.8% this year, revising it down by 1.1 percentage points compared to May and the World Bank expects the economy to expand by 2.9% this year.
