Bank of Albania data published in the current account balance sheet show some 264 million euros flowed out of Albania in transfer of profits by foreign companies operating in Albania.
TIRANA, April 9 – Since the onset of the global financial crisis, foreign companies operating in Albania have considerably increased the transfer of profits to their parent companies. Bank of Albania data published in the current account balance sheet show some 264 million euros flowed out of Albania in transfer of profits by foreign companies operating in Albania in 2012, up 41 percent compared to last year.
In 2011, foreign companies transferred 187 million euros, down from 365 million euros in 2010 and 401 million euros in 2009, which is the peak rate of transfer of profits.
“Under these conditions the increase in transfer of profits implies that foreign companies are reinvesting their profits in Albania less and sending back more in cash profits to their parent companies affected by the debt crisis,” experts say.
The transfer of profits from 2004 to 2009 ranged from Euro 23 million to euro 64 million annually.
Annual Bank of Albania data show foreign companies operating in Albania have considerably increased repatriation of profits since the outbreak of the global crisis in 2008. The transfer of profits from 2004 to 2008 varied from Euro 19 million to Euro 57 million. However, in 2008 transfers climbed to 266 million euros to reach the peak level of 401 million euros a year later. Foreign direct investment, one of the key sources of Albania’s growth in the past few years, stagnated in 2012 when it registered Euro 745 million, exactly the same level compared to 2011 but lower compared to the peak inflow of Euro 793 million in 2010, which made Albania one of the largest FDI recipients in South East Europe.
Central bank data total FDI stock has doubled in the past five years climbing from Euro 1.8 billion in 2007 to Euro 3 billion in 2011.
Data show that monetary and financial intermediation has attracted the largest FDI inflows with a total stock of 701 mln Euros in 2011, up from 588 million in 2007, accounting for 23 percent of FDI inflows. Second comes the extractive industry with 630 million Euros, almost double compared to 2010 when it stood at only 326 million euros, and a mere Euro 10 million in 2007. The manufacturing industry ranks the third most important sector for attraction of FDI with a total of Euro 473 million until 2011, up from 415 million in 2010 and 227 million in 2007.
