Hit by slump in oil prices, euro’s free fall, Albania’s exports receive first blow

By Ervin Lisaku TIRANA, Jan. 17 – Albania’s exports preserved their double-digit growth for the second year in a row, but the December performance hints the country’s poorly diversified exports will find it difficult to preserve their growth rates for 2019 due to energy-related exports having received a blow and Europe’s single currency continuing to trade at a 10-year low. Albania’s exports grew by 13.7 percent in 2018, but growth was mainly fuelled by favorable weather-related conditions leading to a hike in hydro-dependent electricity exports and a pickup in commodity prices fuelling higher oil, mineral and steel sales. However, Albania’s…