The government will be faced with an electorate impatient to see political change translated into improvements in economic well-being.
TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
The Albanian government, now four months into the job, faces a year filled with pressure to perform well in several areas, including implementing major reforms, overhauling systems like healthcare and vying to move forward Albania’s stalled EU bid. But the pressure will be highest when it comes to Albanians’ economic concerns, and the government’s work by the end of the year will largely be judged on how Albanians feel about their economic prospects.
The government faces an unenviable task. The economy and the state finances are in a bad shape not just due to domestic factors but to the wider economic climate. The latest official data show Albania went through negative growth last quarter, the first time that has been the case since 2009. Economic growth has been hovering at such minimal levels for years, it is evident the country’s economic development is stalling.
The government has promised “systemic change” in order to achieve its goals. It knows it is expected to deliver in a way that has not been seen in the past in the country. Twenty fourteen will show whether the government’s actions are headed in the right direction. But big questions linger.
The problem with the economy is that actions taken today, take some time to show themselves on the ground – so it be difficult for the government in 2014 to convince voters of progress. That is particularly true when it is faced with an electorate that will prove impatient if it sees that political change is not translating in changes in everyday life and well-being.
Concerns about the economy and jobs led Albanians’ list of worries ahead of the general parliamentary elections. The winning parties made a lot of pledges ahead of the elections, including boosting the economy.
They have clearly over-promised, as is the case with a pledge to create 300,000 jobs in the next four years. It is a figure that is just not possible to achieved, economic experts say, pointing out that would mean more than full employment in the country.
The government is hoping to implement reforms in the tax and customs areas that will mean a fairer and wider collection of dues will depend less on low-income earners while increasing revenue by taxing high-income earners more and lowering informality and tax evasion to increase the pool of tax payers.
With an increase in corporate taxes and lukewarm investment climate, Albania is unlikely to have massive private sector growth for jobs. Many of those jobs promised to voters and active supporters will have to come from the public sector, and will come either by increasing the number of the public workforce – for which there is little funding – or by replacing current employees, which offers no net growth in jobs and leads to the perpetual politically-related staffing decisions when it comes to civil service jobs. And that is no systemic change at all. It is repeating the same old story.
