Opposition attacks govt for not setting crisis prevention steps

TIRANA, Dec 3 – Albania’s main opposition Socialists repeated their complaint this week to the government for not creating preventive steps for the global financial crisis, which has yet to directly harm Albania.
There have also been contradictory figures on the country’s growth rates for next year, from 6 percent from the government to 3.5 percent from the International Monetary Fund.
Ilir Beqja of the Socialist Party said that the data on the last two months show pessimistic trends for the economy, mentioning the stopping of mineral exports and other demands from the international market on some businesses in the country.
Many businesses have frozen their activity and some have also been liquidated.
He also said the banking system had practically frozen providing credit in the last two months.
Beqja repeated that the 2009 budget passed from the government did not foresee any preventive actions.
Qemal Minxhozi, a Socialist lawmaker, said that up to 2,000 miners could be sacked due to the global financial crisis. He called on the government to urgently intervene in this sector, adding that this year there was a significant fall of exports of different ores due to the world crisis.