Crisis cut Albanians’ wealth by 32%, report shows

TIRANA, March 19 – After increasing their wealth per capita by four times in the pre-crisis period from 2000 to 2007 when the country grew by an average of 6 percent annually, Albanians’ wealth has considerably shrunk by 32 percent since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in late 2008. A survey carried out by Credit Suisse Research Institute published in the 2013 global Wealth Databook shows the wealth per capita in Albania rose from a mere 1,856 USD in 2000 to 9,641 USD in 2007 but plunged to 7,935 in 2008 soon after the outbreak of the global crisis although the country registered growth rate of 6 percent.
The shrink in wealth per capita continued even in 2009-2011 period when Albania grew by an average of 3 percent annually, before the economy slowed down to 1.6 percent in 2012 and is expected to have grown by only 0.7 percent in 2013. The Swiss bank’s research arm reports Albania’s wealth per capita stood at $6,566 in mid-2013.
The report describes Albania a lower middle income country with GDP per capita of 3,953 dollars and with a mere 0.02 percent share of the world GDP. The report estimated Albania’s population in 2013 at 3.2 million, of whom 2.2 million adults.
Albania’s poverty rate has increased by 2 percent or around 29,000 people in the past four years as the country’s GDP growth rate dropped to an average of 3 percent down from 6 percent annually in the pre-crisis years. The results are confirmed in a recent living standard measurement survey conducted by Albania’s state Institute of Statistics and the World Bank.
The survey carried out in September-October 2012 on around 6,670 households nationwide showed the number of people who live below the poverty line in Albania rose by around 2 percent to 14.3 percent in the past four crisis years.