Government indirectly raises online purchases taxes
The Customs in Albania changed the law for online purchases, by now including in the taxes the shipping costs. Albanian citizens who buy products online which value exceeds 22 euros, have to pay a 20 percent VAT and a 2.4 percent customs tax. The shipping costs were previously inconsiderable. However, as of March 1 this year, the customs changed the law to include the shipping cost for every product over the floor price as taxable. That increases expenditure, however, it also discourages citizens to make online purchases, and Albania is already the last in Europe with only 15 percent of citizens having made at least one online purchase, according to a Life Quality Survey. The EU average is 67 percent.
Albania with high female STEM graduates
According to data from the World Bank regarding the percentage of female graduates per country in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Albania is ranked eighth among 114 worldwide countries enlisted. More nominally four out of ten STEM graduates in our country are female, or 49 percent of the total, holding thus the highest number of female STEM graduates in Europe. As the world is turning digital by hour, females are encouraged to study in the STEM fields so the gender gap can be reduced. However, some of the reasons they choose to not follow this career path are because they publish less, get paid less for their research, and do not progress as much as men in their careers. However, there is very little data at the international level that shows the scale of these inequalities, but nevertheless international institutions including UNESCO are conducting researches for more in-depth analysis.
Tax revenue increases
The General Directorate of Taxes (GDT) has declared that it has collected 7.6 billion lek (61.9 million euros) in unpaid obligations during the first quarter of 2019. Comparing to the same period last year, the revenue has increased by 41 percent. 2.6 billion lek (21.1 million euros) were collected in April alone. This growth has come from better management of debt collection measures from the directorates of collecting unpaid obligations. Also GDT has increased the level of preventive information to taxpayers through various channels of communication regarding deadlines, ways of paying the debt, and raising awareness of the austerity measures.
Albania with highest self-employed persons
According to data from the European Institute of Statistics (Eurostat), 55.9 percent of employed persons in Albania are either self-employed in their own businesses and/or are employed in family enterprises. This indicator is 20 percentage points higher than the EU mean, which indicates that six in ten employed persons are working under such conditions. Turkey has one in three persons as self-employed or working for family, Kosovo and Serbia has one-fourth of the employed persons, and FYROM, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro has one-fifth of the employed working in such conditions. These high comparative percentages reflect the relative weight of agricultural activities to some extent, with a small distribution scale of small family farms or agricultural cooperatives. Self-employment is an indicator of a less competitive economy, with low productivity and value added, and that it is difficult to benefit from economies of scale.
Slow energy reforms reduce reliability
As the energy production in Albania has significantly dropped by 2.5 times (1.281 GWh from 3.213 GWh) in the first quarter of 2019 compared to last year which led to its importing, the government has received some strong criticism from the Energy Community Secretariat regarding its slow reforms in the sector. Some of the points regarded in their report were the constant postponing of the Energy Stock Exchange which impede the coordination of the energy market for the sale with neighboring countries; the market liberalization which would decrease competitiveness; a negative response to the idea of unifying the Electricity Power Distribution Operator with the Albanian Power Corporation to lower the latter’s arrears; the rules for market balancing; and the questionable independence of the Energy Regulatory Entity.
New bill on youth awaits approval
A new Youth Bill which is expected to start discussions in the Assembly soon, focuses on funding policies, programs and youth activities to empower this group that promises the future of the country. Funding of projects and youth activities will be planned and implemented through grant funds with the aim of improving youth infrastructure, financing the construction of youth facilities, financing of youth organizations activities and projects, funding for membership and participation in international programs, studies, observations and analyzes, etc., where the direct beneficiaries are young people. The estimated funding is 868 million lek, of which 468 million will be from the state budget while the rest from grants or other legitimate financing. The funding is expected to increase for the next year at 1.06 billion lek, while in 2021 it will be 1.25 billion lek.
Municipality to add more cameras for traffic tracking
The main intersections of Tirana are currently monitored by 23 cameras which convey images to the Traffic Monitoring and Management Center (TMMC). Yet, the Municipality of Tirana plans to install 51 additional cameras at 44 intersections, with the aim to track and improve traffic flow management, reducing the waiting time at the intersections, reducing the amount of pollution from the exhaling gases, especially during peak times. A procedure with a 55 million lek (447 thousand euros) was called to install and integrate this surveillance service with the other existing subsystems of the center, thus complementing a clear picture of the city for TMMC operators to improve traffic management and real-time monitoring by users via the My Tirana application.
