Gross external debt climbs to 6.6 billion

TIRANA, Dec. 16 – Albania’s total gross external debt stock reached 6.6 billion Euros at the end of the third quarter of 2014, up Euro 224 million compared to the second quarter of 2014 and 588 million euros compared to the third quarter of the year, according to the Bank of Albania. Data shows general government accounts for 39 percent of the total external debt stock with 2.6 billion euros, all of which is long term. Commercial banks rank second with around 1.3 billion euros followed by other sectors with 1.16 billion euros.
At the end of the third quarter of 2014, Albania’s public debt stock climbed to 961.4 billion lek (Euro 6.78 billion) or 67.8 percent of the GDP without including government arrears of around 3 percent of the GDP. Domestic debt accounted for 35.55 percent of the GDP compared to 26.41 percent for external debt.
At around 70 percent of the GDP, Albania has the highest public debt in the region.
Total debt service cost the Albanian government 41.3 billion lek (around Euro 291 million) in the first three quarters of this year, up from 38.6 billion lek (Euro 272 million) during the same period last year, severely affecting public investments which at around 30 billion lek (Euro 210 million) for the first three quarters of 2014, public investments were down by 43 percent compared to the same period last year, hitting a record low since 2007, according to Finance Ministry data.