Albania to privatize main strategic objects this year

TIRANA, Feb. 11 – Albania will soon launch the long awaited international tender to sell the state-owned oil company, ARMO. This sale will be the first step in the Albanian privatization program that includes the sale of state-owned insurer INSIG, the state-held stakes of Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) operator, the KESH power monopoly, oil prospector Albpetrol, and fuel dealer Petrolimpex. The government has set this year to begin the privatization of among its largest public companies through international tenders. ARMO could be attractive to investors due to increased consumption of fuel oil from booming car sales in the country. Albanians were not allowed to own vehicles under communist dictator Enver Hoxha, but have made up for this since the regime collapsed in the early 1990s.
Finance Minister Ridvan Bode told parliament in December that the 2008 deficit would fund infrastructure projects, such as the Durres-Morini road linking the country to neighboring Kosova.
Earlier this month, the IMF warned that rapid financing of large infrastructure projects might pose overheating and fiscal risks, and called for a five percent budget deficit.
This year will test the ability of the government, after similar attempts at privatization failed for various reasons.