TIRANA, March 31 – Albania ranks 55th among 130 global economies in e-commerce, according to a recent report published by UNCTAD, the United Nations body responsible for dealing with development issues, particularly international trade.
In a B2C (business to consumer) E-commerce index, the report examines electronic commerce, and shows in detail how information and communications technologies can be harnessed to support economic growth and sustainable development.
Albania’s poorest performance is in the share of individuals with credit card with an estimated 10.6 percent until 2011. The country ranks better on individuals using the internet with 54.7 percent of the population until the end of 2013 and has 60.7 percent of its servers secure.
The report shows 100 percent of Albania’s population has mail delivered at home, which is probably due to electricity bills delivered by the state postal operator.
The UNCTAD e-commerce value for Albania is at 57 percent, considerably below some regional countries, unveiling weaknesses in Albania’s e-commerce.
The report covering data on internet use, secure servers, credit card penetration and postal delivery services, unveiled that transition economies such as Albania have a relatively high degree of home postal delivery whereas credit card penetration is low compared with most developing regions.
In Albania, the introduction of an e-procurement system in 2010 has had positive results in the form of increased competition and considerable cost savings, says the report.
The report says Albania has limited access to e-Bay services (buy-only site) and full access to PayPal services.
Albania also has legislation in force on electronic transactions, consumer protection, privacy and data protection and cybercrime.
