TIRANA, June 6 – Affected by a reduction in oil exports due to a slump in international oil prices, Albania’s exports continue suffering with the decline in the first four months of this year extending to 4.2 percent, up from 2 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Data published by the country’s state statistical institute, INSTAT, shows Albania’s exports dropped to 78.7 billion lek (€549 mln) in the first four months of this year, down from 82.2 billion lek (€573 mln) as garment and footwear exports slightly declined while “minerals, fuel and electricity” suffered a sharp 29 percent shrink due to lower oil prices.
Exports to top trading partner Italy, the destination of around half of Albanian exports, dropped to 39.2 billion lek in January-April 2015 (€273.5 mln), down 18 percent compared to the same period last year on lower oil and garment and footwear exports. The drop in exports to the neighbouring Adriatic country comes at a time when Italy returned to positive growth of around 0.1 percent in the first quarter of this year and is forecast to escape its recession.
In its latest World Economic outlook, the IMF expects Italy to escape its three-recession with modest growth rate of 0.5 percent in 2015 and 1.1 percent in 2016.
A significant drop in international oil and base metal prices is expected to have a negative impact on Albania’s exports which in 2014 registered their lowest growth rate since the onset of the global crisis in 2009.
Experts say the situation is a result of the poor diversification of Albanian exports which mainly rely on energy and garment and footwear products, accounting for 70 percent of total exports.
Albania’s exports suffered a setback in 2014 affected by poor electricity and oil exportsINSTAT data shows exports grew by only 3.75 percent in 2014, while imports were up by 6.7 percent, further widening the trade gap in a net importer such as Albania.
Albania’s exports grew by 15.6 percent in 2013, registering growth rates for the fourth consecutive year after the shrink in onset of the global crisis in 2009.
