TIRANA, Sept. 8, 2022 – Albania’s government has issued a package of decisions aimed at dealing with the European energy crisis and inflation, which include an increase in the minimum wage, pensions and the salaries of state employees.
The government also said the price of electricity would increase more than fourfold, the market rate, for the minority of consumers who use more than 800 KWh a month.
It said it was not predicting any brownouts or energy rationing yet.
The decisions were made public at a press conference on Thursday morning by Prime Minister Edi Rama and Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku.
“The package is conceived as a medium-term support, not as a temporary support, extending over one, two or three months, which means that we have taken into consideration the fact that this crisis is of an unpredictable nature as to when it ends,” Rama said.
Old age pensions will be indexed up 9.5 percent for 2022, while those who received disability payments will get an increase of 7.5 percent. Economic assistance to women with two children will increase by 10 percent.
Most public sector employees will also see their salaries increase, but no exact numbers were offered.
Moreover, the monthly minimum wage will increase to 34,000 lek a month (289 euros/dollars) up from 32,000.
Balluku said the price of electricity will increase to 42 lek per kWh for all families that spend more than 800 kWh per month. The portion below the threshold will get charged the subsidized 9 lek price.
“We have over 90 percent household consumers who consume less than 800 kWh and we have a number of consumers around 6 or 7 percent who consume more than 800 kWh, Balluku said, adding the government hoped this would encourage energy savings.
The Albanian government had come under pressure from the political opposition who noted it was doing as other European governments try to help the populations deal with the increased cost of living due to the energy crisis and inflation.
