TIRANA, Sept. 28 – Both retail sales and the turnover index registered moderate growth rates in the second quarter of this year, hinting the Albanian economy continued recovering after a surprise 2.8 percent growth in the year’s first quarter.
Data published by the country’s state statistical institute, INSTAT, ahead of the publication of the GDP for the second quarter of the year, shows retail sales grew by 3.4 percent in April-June 2015 compared to the same period last year. A year ago, retail sales were up by 4.2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2012.
The volume of retail sales in specialized and non-specialized ‘food, beverage and tobacco’ stores grew by 8.3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2014, continuing providing the main contribution to the volume of sales in the retail trade.
However, retail sales of fuel continued contracting for the third quarter in a row, declining by 0.7 percent year-on-year in the second quitter of the year.
Meanwhile, short-term statistics show the turnover index in industry, construction, trade and services was up by 4.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of the year.
Employment and wages registers increased in almost all sectors except for the transport and warehousing segment where they slightly dropped.
Preliminary data published by INSTAT, the finance ministry and the central bank provide a mixed picture of the Albanian economy in the first half of this year.
Albania’s prospects in the first half of this year were negatively affected by exports which suffered a slight 2.3 percent decline on lower international oil and base metal prices. Consumption is also estimated to have declined as the value added tax, levied on almost every product and service at a fixed 20 percent rate, was down by 5.3 percent in the first half of this year, according to the Finance Ministry.
While lending strived to remain at positive growth rates, private investments indirectly measured by imports of ‘machinery, equipment and spare parts’ were up by 15 percent.
Foreign direct investment, migrant remittances and tourism revenue registered positive growth rates in the first half of this year.
The Albanian economy grew by a surprise 2.8 percent in the first quarter of this year at a time when severe floods, lower exports and sluggish domestic consumption indicated the economy had slowed down compared to January-March 2014.
The Albanian government and the IMF have recently revised Albania’s 2015 GDP growth forecast to 2.7 percent down from an initial 3 percent on lower international oil prices affecting exports and spillover impacts from the crisis in neighboring Greece.
