Budget reduces salaries figure

TIRANA, Aug 25 – The supplementary budget for the second half of this year has been reduced from 4.6 billion leks, set at the beginning of the year, to 2 billion leks.
It was not clear why there was this reduction, but authorities have made it clear they would not increase salaries this year, other than the pensions.
The local media reported the government has told the International Monetary Fund that salaries would not be increased based upon the supplementary budget.
The new supplementary budget does not make clear where funds for a salary increase would be taken from. However, the government said earlier that public salaries would increase from 4 to 15 percent. Yet, there has been no government decision to make such an increase official. The Finance Ministry said, however, it had already disbursed the funding for the salary increase, though no sign of an increase has yet to be seen. (Tirana Times Staff)