TIRANA, Nov. 17 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Wednesday’s government meeting that tourism will remain a top priority in the 2011 budget along with continued increase of wages and pensions and infrastructure development. He called on his ministers to reexamine once again every project on tourism as long as the budget is under discussion at Parliament.
Implying the popular travel guide Lonely Planet which placed Albania as the top choice in its list of the 10 vacation spots to visit in 2011, Berisha said “Albania, the planet’s top destination, is the most positive news citizens around the world had ever receive on Albania.” The reconstruction of roads to tourist and archeological sites will also be a priority in next year’s budget.
Data show 1.3 million people visited Albania during the July 1 to August 15 period, some 32 percent more than the same period in 2009.
Latest data by the Tourism Ministry also show some 2.5 million people visited Albania during the January-August period this year, of whom 1.7 million were foreigners and 855,000 Albanian non-residents.
2011 budget
Under the government decision approved last week, the 2011 budget, made up of the state budget, the local government budget and the special funds covering social securities, health insurance and the compensation of ex-land land owners, foresees 362.2 billion lek (3.6 billion dollars) in revenues and 409 billion lek of expenditure, taking the deficit to 46.8 billion lek, up from 38.1 billion lek under the revised 2010 budget.
Government expects a 4.1 percent growth in 2010, 5 percent in 2011, 6.1 percent in 2012 and 0.1 percent more in 2013.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the Albanian economy to grow by 3 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2011 under the new estimates raised last week, yet, almost twice less compared to government’s GDP projections.
While government says the 2010 public debt will be at 59.5 percent of the GDP, IMF’s prediction for 2010 is 62.8 percent, 2.8 percent more than in 2009. The 2011 government expectations are to lower it to 59 percent of the GDP, before dropping it to 56 percent in 2012 and 54 percent in 2013.
Opposition says budget is electoral
The opposition Socialist Party is worried government’s optimistic draft budget will be used for electoral purposes ahead of the May 8, 2011 local elections and raises doubts on the transparency of its figures following expected changes in some taxes.
Discussing the draft law in parliamentary committees this week, opposition MP Fatmir Xhafaj described the budget as electoral campaign- oriented, saying that constitutional and independent institutions had been granted insufficient funds to strengthen their independent functioning.
Arben Ahmetaj, another SP lawmaker, said the new draft budget had not taken into consideration the expected extra revenues from the excise rate increase. Under the newly proposed changes expected to become effective starting from next year, the excise tax on tobacco will further increase by 20 lek (20 US cents) per packet, climbing to 70 lek, up from 50 lek currently.
Meanwhile, Bashkim Fino strongly opposed a proposal by majority that obliges municipalities and communes to use only 18 percent of the government unconditional grants on wages, saying that the measure ran counter to the law on local government units approved 10 years ago under a qualified majority of 84 votes.
