TIRANA, May 27- The American Chamber of Commerce in Albania (AmCham) together with DIHA (German Industry and Trade Association in Albania) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), have expressed their concern to the political situation in the country in a joint statement posted at AmCham’s website. They urge for a solution to this impasse as it directly affects the business climate and the Albanian economy.
“Many of our members have expressed frustration with the political uncertainty that is negatively affecting Albania’s business environment and economy. Each day that passes without resolution erodes the confidence of citizens in our political system and economy, while deterring potential international investment,” wrote the statement.
The Associations of foreign businesses in Albania are demanding the government and opposition to act accordingly with responsibility against this situation, on behalf of the country’s stability. DIHA members in Albania have already expressed their pessimism on April regarding the business climate in our country through a survey conducted during February and March 2019. More respectively, regarding the future projections of the economic situation, 43 percent of the participating businesses admitted to a negative trend. Comparing to the previous year this indicator has dropped by 26 percent. On the other hand, over the last three years the number of businesses which predicted an improvement or decline on the business climate in Albania has dropped, which indicates that 60 percent of the surveyed enterprises expect an unchanged situation. All 89 DIHA members participated in this survey.
“The businesses perceive a great decline in the political and social stability, thus this is the greatest difference between 2018 and 2019. The legal security, the public administration, predictability of economic policies, transparency with public tenders, and also the war against criminality and corruption, are the five most negatively evaluated factors regarding conducting business in Albania for 2018 and 2019,” the survey report writes.
The foreign embassies in Albania have already expressed their concerns regarding the political crisis which has obviously succumbed our country, but which is loudly rejected by the government. The international’s calls have both regarded the social stability but also the economic situation related to it, but the joint statement from the aforementioned Associations is the first official reaction from the foreign businesses operating in Albania.
Moreover, Nikollaq Neranxi who is president of the company Neranxi which operates in raw materials importing and processing, and chief of the Association for the Protection of Trade and Market of Albania, demanded an urgent meeting with Albanian enterprises of all sizes (small, medium, large), to find a solution to the critical situation the country and its economy are going through.
“The decline in consumption as a result of the deepening poverty, as well as the massive departure of Albanians, has brought honest and formal business which is not a customer of power in the conditions of survival,” wrote Neranxi.
His concerns were regarding the legislative regulations against Albanian businesses with high taxes most enterprises can’t afford, and with the numerous costly fines businesses are taking due to minor violations. This concern is extended to the fact that there is no functioning Constitutional and Supreme Courts for these enterprises to file complaints, which reflects an inner judicial crisis the country is facing due to the Vetting Process, as all judges, prosecutors and other state judicial workers are being examined for their professional integrity and corruption cases.
Neranxi believes that the business is stronger than the government and they should be acting now, “to save our work that we have raised with sweat and who [the government] seek to destroy us deliberately.” So far there are 132 businesses that have filed bankruptcy at the National Business Center. In 2018, 14134 businesses went passive, and 4907 went passive in 2019. There are a number of factors that have induced this alarming numbers, the declining turnovers, low inflation, the tax system and the reduced VAT threshold from 5 to 2 million lek, and the population emigration. Other factors not mentioned in this article might have affected these numbers.
