Opposition says government not prepared for crisis

TIRANA, Feb 23 – The main opposition Socialist party of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama accused the governing democratic Party-led coalition of Prime Minister Sali Berisha of being unprepared to cope with the upcoming financial and economic crisis ahead this year.
Lawmaker Arben Malaj, a former finance minister, said the government had not enough resources and that is also misusing the currency reserves to hide the crisis in the country ahead of the June 28 general elections.
Malaj said that the government cannot avoid the increasing poverty and also the stopping of the crediting in the country, added with the devaluation of the lek local currency.
“Challenges of the economy are becoming more difficult while the government continues its demagogic shows of the ‘surprise’ of the Albanian economy ignoring the concern of many international institutions and economic actors in the country for the increasing risks,” said Malaj at a news conference Sunday.
The government insists that the country had the highest GDP growth in Europe in 2008 with 9.9 percent. It also adds that the growth this year will be more than six percent though international institutions like the IMF have put it no higher than 3.5 percent.
Malaj said that the country’s important sectors of economy, like contraction, are in a fall and are increasingly asking the government to support them.
Malaj also added that the export increase had significantly been reduced in December and the same for imports. Albanian commercial deficit was also 29 percent higher than a year ago.
Malaj also said that despite the signing of billions of Euros of investment mainly in the energy sector it is very likely that the launch of their projects will be delayed due to the world crisis.