An INSTAT report which has divided Albania’s 12 regions into three statistical regions shows the central region composed of only the Tirana and Elbasan regions accounts for 45.6 percent of the GDP
TIRANA, August 5 – The region of Tirana, where a quarter of the country’s 2.8 million resident population lives, accounts for more than one-third of the country’s GDP with the services sector dominating with 58 percent, according to a regional accounts report published by the country’s state Institute of Statistics INSTAT. Second comes the southeastern region of Fier with a 9.8 percent contribution to the GDP, followed by Durres with 9.4 percent, Elbasan with 9 percent, and Gjirokastra and Kukes closing the 12 region-list with 2.7 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.
The INSTAT data show Tirana’s GDP in 2011 was at 3.3 billion euros, followed by Fier with 897 million Euros, and Durres with 859 million euros. The report which has divided Albania’s 12 regions into three statistical regions shows the central region composed of only the Tirana and Elbasan regions accounts for 45.6 percent of the GDP. The southern region composed of the Berat, Fier, Gjirokastra, Korca and Vlora regions accounts for 29.8 percent while the northern region which includes Durres, Shkodra, Lezha, Dibra and Kukes provides 24.7 percent of the GDP.
In 2011, agriculture and fishing generated 19.5 percent of the country’s GDP, up 0.2 percent compared to 2010. The contribution of this group ranges from 5 percent in Tirana to 37 percent in the region of Fier.
The industry sector accounted for 12 percent of the GDP in 2011, up 0.1 percent compared to 2010 ranging for 3 percent of the GDP in the northeastern Kukes region to 21 percent in Fier.
The construction sector accounted for 10.7 percent of the GDP, down 0.3 percent compared to 2010. The contribution of the construction sector in regional GDP ranges from 4 percent in Dibra to 17 percent in Tirana.
Trade, hotels, transport and communication accounted for 31.1 percent of the GDP in 2011, 0.6 percent higher compared to 2010 with its contribution ranging from 16 percent in Gjirokastra to 42 percent in Tirana.
Financial and real estate intermediation generated 13.9 percent of the GDP at a national level, down 0.2 percent compared to 2010 with its contribution ranging from 10 percent in Elbasan to 29 percent in Gjirokastra.
Other services including the public administration and defence produced 12.8 percent of the GDP in 2011, down 0.6 percent compared to 2010. Its contribution ranged from 8 percent in Fier to 16 percent in Tirana.
Back in 2011, a regional accounts report, the first of this kind published by INSTAT, revealed the huge gaps of income and welfare across Albania’s 12 administrative regions. The report, which is a commitment under the Stabilization and Association Agreement Albania has signed with the European Union, provided Albania’s regional estimates from 2000 to 2009, dividing Albania into three statistical units NUTS level 2 (north, center and south) and NUTS level 3 into 12 statistical regions with the approval of Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.The report shows that in 2009 the region of Tirana accounted for 37.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product while the GDP per capita was 51.2 percent above the country’s average. “Some of the main factors are the concentration of gross value added of the construction branch, the concentration of services sector (banking, insurance, and telecommunications), high compensation of employees and high rate of commuting from other prefectures,” said the report.Tirana’s GDP per capita in 2009 was at 4,126 Euros, 2.2 times higher than the GDP per capita of the northeastern region of Dibra, the country’s poorest. Second came the region of Durres with a GDP per capita of 2,566 Euros, accounting for 94 percent of Albania’s 2,728 Euros per capita in 2009.Interestingly enough, the poor northeastern region of Kukes, which has the lowest population and accounts for only 2.3 percent of the GDP, came third with GDP per capita of 2,537 Euros.The report also reveals the gaps between central Albania (the regions of Tirana and Elbasan) and northern and southern Albania where GDP per capita differs by 1,500 Euros per inhabitant.In 2009, the central region had a 46.4 percent share in the total GDP followed by the southern region with 29.2 percent and the northern region with 24.3 percent.However, with 2009 economic growth of 3.3 percent, the southern region had the biggest contribution of 1.27 percent, followed by the northern region with 1.21 percent and central region with 0.84 percent.Albania was one of the few countries to register positive growth rate in the 2009 when the global financial crisis broke out.
The Albanian economy grew by 3.8 percent in 2010 and 3.1 percent in 2011, remaining at the same moderate growth rates for the third year in a row. In 2012, Albania’s GDP growth dropped to 1.6 percent, the lowest in the past 15 years and half of the average 3 percent growth annually from 2009 to 2011.
