Optimism about economy in 2010

TIRANA, Jan 1ؔhe majority of Albanians believe things have deteriorated during the last 12 months but remain optimistic about the future, a new survey conducted by the Tirana based Monitor Research Center reports.
According to the study, about 59 per cent of those interviewed say their personal wealth has been affected by the crisis and 45 per cent report having earned less this year but only 5 per cent have lost their jobs because of the crisis.
“Albanians feel their country has been somehow affected by the international crisis and that employment and remittances have been the main factors affected,” said Ornela Liperi, editor of the business weekly Monitor and one of the authors of the study, “but we also found that the personal situation of the interviewed individuals has not changed that much and the majority believe their lives will improve in the next 12 months.
“The results make it clear that Albania was one of the few countries in Europe to have had economic growth this year but such growth was not very helpful for the general wellbeing because it was the result of public investment in infrastructure and not that many people benefited from that,” Liperi added.
According to Albania’s Ministry of Finance, GDP grew by 5.8 per cent this year though the IMF estimated this figure at 2 per cent. Official statistics remain widely disputed in Albania and several institutions conduct surveys in order to create a range of pictures of the country’s economy.