TIRANA, Sept. 7 – Switzerland is supporting Albania through a $450,000 project on improving public debt management. The project which will be implemented by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) allows the upgrading of software databases and personnel skills for better public debt management.
“Albania needs a solid and proven debt management framework, able to build sustainability in the long term, and adapt to the changing conditions of the financial environment,” said Ambassador Christoph Graf. “Recording, storing and reporting of accurate debt data paves the way for good public financial management and decision-making. In concrete terms, the project will update a debt management and financial analysis software for data recording, storing and analysis. It will also build competencies and train expert staff on debt data validation and statistics” , added Ambassador Graf.
Swiss contribution to the Albanian Ministry of Finance has increased over the last few years supporting its objective of “achieving a better balanced and sustainable budget.” Examples of ongoing and new initiatives include public accounting, integrated planning system, tax administration, government financial statistics and debt management, with around 6 million CHF. Switzerland’s support to Albania’s reforms and transition for the years 2014-2017 amounts to about 90 million CHF in areas such as economic development, decentralization, energy and health.
Latest Finance Ministry data shows public debt hit a historic high of around 1 trillion lek (€7.14 bln) or around 68 percent of the GDP excluding government arrears of around 2 percent of the GDP in the first half of this year.
