TIRANA, Oct. 13 – The Albanian government is not worried about the 21 percent drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) registered in the first half of this year compared to the first 6 months of 2009 when 150 million euros collected in privatization revenues were calculated as FDI. Speaking to reporters after presenting the findings of a European Commission report on candidate and pre-accession EU countries, deputy Economy Minister Enno Bozdo said FDI in the first half of 2009 was influenced by the strategic privatizations of the electricity distribution operator (previously known as OSSH and now as CEZ distribution after the Czech company), and the remaining state owned minority stake of AMC, both worth 150 million euros.
“If FDI collected from strategic privatizations is not taken into account, we will notice that FDI in the first six months of this year increased by 18.7 percent compared to the same period in 2009 which is a really positive figure,” said Bozgo.
Asked if the EC report considered the ongoing political stalemate between the majority and the opposition over last year’s general elections a barrier to the economy, Bozgo said “Albania’s economy continues performing well, differently from other regional countries, which means that what the media describes as political deadlock has a very limited impact.”
FDI continues dropping
Foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances, two of the country’s main sources of economic growth, continued dropping even in the second quarter of this year.
Foreign direct investment registered a considerable drop in the second quarter of this year dropping to 171 million, down from 293 million euros during the same period last year, according to central bank statistics.
However, data show FDI increased by 14 million euros compared with the first quarter of this year. FDI during the first half of this year totalled 325 million euros, down from 413 million in the first half of 2009.
Foreign direct investment registered a 25.6 percent growth in the first quarter of 2010, after a sharp drop in 2009. FDI in the first three months of this year was mainly used to finance investments in the telecommunication and oil sectors. FDI reached 154 million euros in the January-March period, increasing by 34 million euros year-on-year, according to central bank data.
Last year, FDI registered a 7 percent growth compared to 2008, reaching 664 million euros.
