Albania tries to attract foreign investment, corruption hampers efforts

TIRANA, Nov 10 – The Albanian government has insisted recently that it offers a safe and secure environment in an effort to attract foreign investors.
In meetings, Prime Minister Sali Berisha and other senior politicians and officials repeatedly say a growing number of foreign businesses choose to invest in the country due to the favorable business environment created in the country.
The country’s diplomats have also been turned into ‘marketing persons’ in the countries they work to introduce Albania’s new face as a secure location for investors.
Albanian officials also fear that the global financial crisis could effect the level of foreign investment in Albania, though the country remains unharmed due to the low level of involvement with foreign banks.
Further, the country is not fully integrated into the regional and global markets so the impact of international turmoil is expected to be limited.
However, there have been contradictory replies from different studies on Albania this year.
While the World Bank issued a report on the business climate, saying Albania ranked high in positive changes, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on Albania spoke of the high level of corruption in the country.
Albania, though, has seen some improvements in strengthening the security of investments but is still among the world’s most risky country. The index of corruption rate has reportedly doubled. The report was drafted by PRS Group INC in co-operation with Albanian authorities and was published by the IMF.
The results for the period 1998 – 2001 are compared to the results for 2005 – 2007.
The major risk in Albania has improved from 62% in 2001 to 70% in 2007. In comparison to other new EU member states, the investment atmosphere in Albania is better and progress remains intense. Albania ranked eight points above the other new EU member states.
Albania’s weak points are traditionally bound to the belief in the supremacy of the law and observing the law. Observers believe this reveals that the problems of Albania come from its political situation.
Compared to other countries in the region and in Eastern Europe, Albania exceeds almost all of them, with some slight exceptions, in gathering “black” medals.
In relation to the major risk for investments, four countries are behind Albania – Romania, Serbia, Belarus and Moldavia. Even Azerbaijan is considered safer. Regarding the quality of governance, Albania is in the middle of the rating. However, Albania tops the corruption chart.