TIRANA, Feb. 18 – Albanian financial authorities were pleased by the ranking of their country in the index of the economic freedom, prepared by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.
Finance Minister Ridvan Bode said the ranking was a result of the government’s reforms undertaken in the two and a half years since they were elected to lead Albania.
Out of 150 countries participating in the list, Albania ranks 56 and among 41 European countries it ranks 27.
A number of regional countries like Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Macedonia, Turkey, Slovenia, Greece, Poland and Russia were listed behind Albania, said the minister.
Albania and Georgia are considered among the two countries with the greatest fiscal freedom in Europe, rated at 90.3 percent. To Albania, its progress has been enhanced by the significant reduction of taxes (Albania has installed a flat rate tax system this year), deepening of the competition in the market and a series of other administrative measures, according to the minister.
Monetary freedom is another topic which earned Albania points. It ranks at 80.4 percent, and its rating is attributed to the fact that the prices are under control, inflation remains under three percent and private financial systems are checked and audited by independent authorities.
The minister also mentioned other topics paving the way for progress in Albanian reforms including the governing strategy, commercial freedom and others.
The minister said that Albania had increased its ranking from 82 in 2004 to 56 now, which will provide encouragement to the government’s policies in the future.
However, the opposition in Parliament does not support such a statement.
Ilir Beqja of the opposition Socialist Party criticized the government for allowing the significant increase in the price of bread and other goods, saying these price increases do not assist domestic agriculture.
The opposition also said the government was not compensating hundreds of thousands of the Albanian poor such as pensioners and others who are negatively affected by the increase of prices and have no protection against such increases.
