20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Albanians rank among the poorest in Europe
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern European countries that got rid of authoritarian regimes from 1989 to 1991 are from the point of view of economy and prosperity still lagging behind Western European countries whom they have joined or are making ready to join in the European Union, though they offer today more dynamic markets and reserve, as they are continuing their growth and development, big business and investment opportunities.
The Western European countries that have enjoyed before and after the end of the Second World War free market economies and resources drawn and accumulated from colonialism seem still to persist to consider the once-isolated Easterners as poorer European relatives. Walls have remained in the minds, and trenches in the pockets suggests The Economist, the world-celebrated reference publication on business and economy.
“The ex-communist countries of central Europe have fared well, mostly, since 1989. But they still have to shed their image as poor and troubled relations” wrote on the 5th of November The Economist. The article was accompanied with a table comparing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in 2009 among Eastern European countries as well as to the average of the Western European countries.
Albanians among the poorest
The Albanians are among the poorest in the whole lot of Eastern European countries and are better off only to Moldavia and Ukraine, stress upon release of these data the Albanian media (Top Channel, 8.11.2009). The GDP per capita in Albania is roughly 10 times less than the average of the European Union countries. The comparative data are compiled on information obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and concern the current year (2009). “One of the last in Europe and last in the Balkans” stress the Albanian media while reporting that GDP per capita in Albania in 2009 was equivalent to only 3450 Us Dollars (USD), while all other neighboring countries have scored a better economic performance. Even war-shattered and tension-worn Bosnia and Herzegovina lists a superior GDP per capita reaching 4080 USD. While the Former ex-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) reaches 4410 USD and Serbia 5480 USD. Whereas Sovenia, with 24180 USD, has nearly 8 times higher GDP per capita than Albania, reads the Albanian press.
In this respect, though after a prolongated liberalization and democratization process in the beginning of the nineties Albania has fared a long way since it disembraced the long-going authoritarian regime, the drive of economic growth has pushed Albania only a few bricks off the fallen Berlin wall and still very near to the remains of a shattered incohesive economy.
Still, Albania has been one of the countries that has recorded the highest economic growths in the region and, according to the IMF, this year will be with Poland the only country that will still score a positive growth, while all the other European countries are recessing, stress the Albanian media. According late previsions from IMF, Kosove (Kosovo) is also expected to have an encouraging economic growth for 2009 (See accompanying Box).
Quoting the suggestions of The Economist, the Albanian media write that 20 years after the fall of communism the Eastern European countries have improved the living of their citizen, but not at equal rhythms, since some countries have made quicker wealth and others remain yet undeveloped.
Central Europe before communism was no paradise
“Central Europe before communism was no paradise” reminds The Economist which suggests that the difference in today’s economic wealth between Europe’s Westerners and Easterners is not only a matter of time but also of tradition, of continuous versus eruptive growth and finally and above all of opportunity and accumulation. But even among Eastern European countries, a difference scales the development and influences to date the economic growth. “Before the communist era, countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary were at the centre of the continent, not its impoverished and isolated backwater”.
Though Albania did not inherit a fully-fledged capitalist economy from the years before the Second World War and though infrastructure and economic improvements made during the authoritarian regime that ensued proved sterile and were either older technology or use-worn in the course of time, though much destruction ensued after the painful liberalization and democratization of the country, Albania has fared a long way considered the distance it always has had compared to the community of other European countries. “Central Europe 20 years later, if glimpsed from 1989, would have seemed a glorious pipe-dream. A generation has grown up in free and law-governed societies. Fears of economic ruin and political chaos have proved unfounded. Ten countries have climbed that cliff and joined the European Union. Two more, Croatia and Albania, have joined NATO” writes The Economist.
But as the Eastern European countries have all made substantial economic, politic and social progress during the last two decades former tenants of political, economic and social precepts and power have not been dethroned. “The biggest disappointment is the continuing power and wealth of the old system’s elite, who have proved much better at running the capitalism they decried than the socialism they preached” writes The Economist.
Quotes from The Economist
“Judges, lawyers and police have shed the shackles of Communist Party control. Courts may be slow, politicians meddlesome and bribery a problem. But nobody can count on impunity”.
“The huge exception has been Yugoslavia, seen in 1989 as a template of multi- ethnicity and pluralism, a halfway house between centrally planned socialism and the harsh and distant world of Western capitalism. It is still an example, but a dreadful one. For a decade, the outside world was unable to stop rampaging ethno-nationalist militias turning ancient grudges into bloody revenge. Some 140,000 people died in wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, as authoritarian politicians purged their countries of those they saw as subversive or subhuman”.
“Explicitly racist parties come and go in some parliaments; in Slovakia, one is in the government. But in no country over the past 20 years have they gained full political power. That is cause for relief and pride”.
“Free prices, free exchange rates, free trade, free labour markets and privatisation have proved a colossal success. The profit motive … unleashed the caged talents of millions of entrepreneurs. Foreign investors, at first deterred by scarce telephones, bumpy roads and obnoxious officials, have come in droves, bringing a huge transfer of management and technical know-how. The first wave came because of low labour costs. Membership of the EU attracted the next influx. The EU has improved life in other ways too, forcing the pace of reform as a condition of membership and providing billions of euros for modernisation. Borders once sealed by minefields are now just lines on the map”.
“For decades official propaganda had lambasted capitalism as akin to cannibalism. Industry was state-owned and run by party placemen. Management meant hunting for resources and then hoarding them, not dealing with costs, customers and competition. Foreign trade involved haggling with state planners in Russian, not closing deals in English” – The Economist.
Kosove with Highest GDP Growth in Balkans
Kosove (Kosovo) will be in 2009 the country with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the Balkans, predicted recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF), quoted on the 2nd of October 2009 by Gjergj Erebara in Balkan Insight.
According to IMF, the GDP of Kosove is expected to grow by 3.8 % this year and 4.3 % in 2010. The GDP per capita in Kosove is expected to reach 1731 Euros by the end of the year.
The previsions for the GDP growth in Albania in 2009 have been revised. IMF expects the GDP to improve by 0.7 % in 2009, which is slightly better than the 0.4 % expected in former analysis. Though this increase seems small, it is however a progression compared to the other Balkan countries and European countries that are facing a recession. According to IMF, the GDP per capita in Albania is expected to increase by 0.2 % in 2009 and to reach 2598 Euros.
Erebara reminds that IMF projections are published twice a year, in April and in October and that the last IMF projections foresaw drops in GDP growth for all the other Balkan countries.
