Higher current account deficit

TIRANA, April 20 – Ardian Fullani of the central Bank of Albania said that the external sector of the economy continued to be characterized by the deepening of current account deficit, which in annual terms, increased by 48 percent in the third quarter of 2008 to about 252 million Euros.
As a share of GDP it accounted for 13.7 percent which is about 5 percentage points higher than the same period the previous year.
That is naturally an effect of the global financial crisis though the Tirana executive denies the tiny Balkan country, one of Europe’s poorest, has been affected by the crisis.
Fullani also strongly suggested to the government to ask for financial support from the IMF in order to cope with the effects of the crisis.
Last week in another move Prime Minister Sali Berisha sacked the country’s Chief of Customs Perparim Dervishi due to falling revenues from a slump in trade caused by the global financial crisis.
Dervishi was replaced by Endri Pema, a former specialist in the customs service with 15-years of experience. Dervishi had been the customs chief for the last three and a half years since the Democratic Party government came to power.
Customs is generally considered a sector of the public administration traditionally targeted of corruption allegations.
The country is also suffering from falling revenues due to the slump in commodity prices amid the global recession.
Customs revenues have slumped in the last few months, creating problems for the centre-right government ahead of the June 28 parliamentary elections.