TIRANA, Sept. 26 – Albanian transport operators will now save up to €180 for a round trip to Italy after long-awaited legal changes scrapping a discriminatory Cold War tax on Albania have finally come into force.
“All international transport operators will save €150 to €180 for every round trip with Italy. The removal of these taxes imposed in 1953 is an initiative which I believe will considerably improve and further increase trade exchanges and transport with Italy, Albania’s main trading partner,” Transport Minister Sokol Dervishaj has said after the tax was finally scrapped on Sept. 20.
It took almost two years since Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi confirmed plans to lift the discriminatory tax that was applied only for Albania, Syria and Iran.
At least 800 companies with 2,500 trucks are expected to benefit from the tax scrap which was one of the key concerns for Albania’s international transport operators, reducing their competitiveness with regional transport operators who faced no such discriminatory tax.
Albanian transport operators used to pay €6.3 per metric ton for the first 100 km upon entry to Italy in a fixed tax and €9.3 per metric ton for every other km compared to a small amount of €0.77 to €1.29 charged to other Western Balkans transport operators. In addition, Albanian transport operators also faced a circulation tax of €2.27 a day.
Local transport operators had warned the ongoing application of the tax was affecting their competitiveness as considerable number of companies were carrying out transport to Italy with Macedonian or other regional trucks.
Italy is estimated to have benefited about €15 million a year from the transport tax with Albania, according to the Albanian International Transport Association.
Italy is Albania’s top trading partner with 50 percent of total exports and 30 percent of imports. More than 80 percent of garment and footwear products, the country’s main exports, go to Italy. Italian companies, mainly focused on the services sector, increased their numbers to 2,753 at the end of 2015, up from 2,267 in 2014, according to state statistical institute, INSTAT. Italy is the country’s main trading partner and one of the top investors in Albania with key enterprises mainly operating in the banking, energy and the garment and footwear sectors but also in the booming call center sector.
The long-ailing construction industry, declining exports, the high oil prices and increased tax burden have been negatively affecting the country’s transport industry during the past few years, especially road transport operators.
