TIRANA, Dec. 6 – Finance Minister Ridvan Bode says all donations and loans by international donors need to be put under state budget so that government can coordinate them better. The appeal came last weekend during a round table with donors. Bode said all donor loans must be part of the state budget considering the problems that line ministries face with their management and disbursement.
The Finance Minister said that currently only the World Bank and another organization, whose name he did not mention, disburse their donations through the state budget, worried that only a limited part of amounts disbursed in Albania under aid programmes are reflected on the budget.
“I would call on you to reflect on your procedures with Albania. The situation has now changed and it is necessary that everything is included and disbursed in the state budget,” said Bode.
The Finance Ministry says legal changes adopted last year had trebled the amount of VAT refunds to 7 billion lek for both donors and businesses. Legal changes foresee the tax administration can compensate donors or businesses even under another tax in case VAT refunds are not made within deadlines.
2011 budget
Speaking of the country economic performance, Bode said government was convinced it would achieve its 2011 target of 5.5 percent GDP growth despite an expected slight decrease in exports which are at a record 60 percent higher compared to the first 9 months of 2010. Government expects the high public debt levels to lower by only 0.5 percent to 59 percent of the GDP in 2011 and the deficit to be at 3.5 percent, up from an expected 3.1 percent this year when spending was cut by a considerable 390 million dollars. The Finance Ministry’s says it bases next year’s GDP growth which is 1.5 percent below IMF’s revised projections on the reinvigoration of the services sector, increased consumption and investments, which are expected to compensate the negative effects of declining immigrant remittances during the 2008-2010 period.
The 2011 budget was finally approved in Parliament on the night of December 2, amid heated debates over the critical situation in the flooded areas of northern Albania, with the opposition blaming the government for the repeated situation this year.
The draft budget received only the majority’s 73 votes while the opposition who had previously refused to vote the budget in principle walked out of Parliament.
Some amendments proposed by two of the opposition Socialist Party MPs, former Finance Minister Arben Malaj and Andis Harasani, to further lower public debt and deficit for 2011 were turned down.
The 2011 budget, made up of the state budget, the local government budget and the special funds covering social securities, health insurance and the compensation of ex-land land owners, foresees 362.2 billion lek (3.6 billion dollars) in revenues and 409 billion lek of expenditure, taking the deficit to 46.8 billion lek, up from 38.1 billion lek under the revised 2010 budget.
