TIRANA, Sept. 30 – Neighboring Greece continues remaining the top foreign investor in Albania despite its six-year recession which came to an end only last year and ongoing problems with its debt crisis.
Data published by the country’s central bank shows the stock of Greek foreign direct investment rose to €1.17 billion at the end of 2014, accounting for a quarter of total FDI stock in Albania.
Greek investors in Albania are present in almost every sector of the Albanian economy, including banking, telecommunication, construction, energy and health.
While the recession has had a minor impact on Greek investments in Albania, it has significantly affected trade exchanges between the two countries and remittances sent from about 500,000 Albanian migrants there. Greece’s position as Albania’s second trading partner has also significantly weakened in the past few years.
Canada continued holding its second top investor position in Albania thanks to huge investments in oil and mining, although its FDI stock registered a slight decline at the end of 2014.
Canada’s FDI stock dropped to €755 million in 2014, down from €797 million in 2013 and €705 million in 2012. With only €1 million in 2007, Canada emerged as the top foreign investor in 2011 mainly due to huge investments in the oil extraction and mining, overtaking even traditional partners such as neighbouring Greece and Italy. While Canadian companies such as Bankers Petroleum, Petromanas and Stream Oil invest heavily in oil and gas development in Albania, Tirex Resources and Empire are involved in mining.
Top trade partner Italy, which has also only recently escaped recession, continued holding its top third investor position registering only a slight increase in its FDI stock.
Italian FDI stock rose to €526 million at the end of 2014, up from €508 million in 2013 and €457 million in 2012.
Italian investors are also present in key sectors of the economy including banking, energy, transport and health and education.
The Netherlands also registered a sharp increase in its FDI stock in 2014 thanks to huge investments in the oil sector by the Royal Dutch Shell. Dutch FDI stock in 2014 climbed to €505 million, up from €398 million in 2013 and €338 million in 2012.
Turkey ranked the fifth largest investor in 2014 with an FDI stock of €394 million mainly focused in the energy, banking and telecommunication sectors.
Austria is the sixth largest foreign director investor in Albania with an FDI stock of €357 million, down from €432 million in 2013 concentrated on the banking, insurance and energy sectors.
Central bank data shows Albania’s FDI stock climbed to a historic high of €4.55 billion in 2014, up from €4.11 billion in 2013.
The majority of foreign direct investment in Albania has gone to the post and telecommunication sector with around €1.2 billion, followed by monetary and financial intermediation with €768 million, the extractive industry with €677 million, the processing industry with €412 million and real estate with €400 million.
The agriculture industry, which employs around half of the Albanian population and accounts for 20 percent of the GDP, has attracted only a negligible €1 million in FDI.
Data published by the country’s central bank show foreign direct investment rose to €483 million in the first half of this year up from €367 million during the same period last year, registering a 31.6 percent increase.
Prospects for the second half of 2015 seem more optimistic as the major Trans Adriatic Pipeline bringing Caspian gas to Europe has already launched its construction works in its Albania section and Norway’s Statkraft continues the construction of Devoll hydropower plant, the biggest investment in renewably energy in the past three decades in Albania.
TAP, which is expected to bring gas to Europe through Greece, Albania and Italy will generate one of that Albania’s largest FDI projects, with important benefits for a number of industries, including manufacturing, utilities and transport, experts say.
Lack of privatization revenue and the increase of the corporate income tax by 5 percent to 15 percent are estimated to have had a negative impact on foreign direct investment which suffered a slight decline in 2014.
Revised Bank of Albania data shows FDI dropped to €869 million in 2014, down from a historic high of €946 million in 2013.
Albania was the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment among EU aspirant regional countries for the fifth year in a row in 2014, but the FDI stock remains the lowest compared to four other regional competitors, according to a report by UNCTAD, the United Nations body responsible for international trade.
