INSTAT data show the turnover index in industry, construction, trade and other services grew by 2.6 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2013 and was up by 8.9 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.
TIRANA, March 31 – After a drop in the third quarter of 2013 when the economy shrank by around 2.3 percent, short-term turnover statistics published by Albania’s Institute of Statistics ahead of the GDP for the final quarter of 2013 show the Albanian economy has recovered in the final quarter of the year, although the annual GDP growth is estimated at only 0.7 percent, the lowest rate in more than a decade.
INSTAT data show the turnover index in industry, construction, trade and other services grew by 2.6 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2013 and was up by 8.9 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.
Employment and wages in these sectors grew by 8.7 percent and 9.3 percent respectively.
The turnover index in the industry sector rose by 3.3 percent year-on-year and was up by 5.2 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013 affected by a 12.5 percent decline in the volume of industrial production. However, employment in this sector which accounts for 10 percent of the GDP and is dominated by manufacturing rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year while salaries rose by 12.9 percent.
The ailing construction sector, in crisis since 2008, suffered a 6.9 percent shrink year-on-year in its turnover index, cut 1.7 percent of its staff and lowered salaries by 3.3 percent compared to the final quarter of 2012.
In the wholesale trade, the turnover index rose by 1.4 percent year-on-year. The number of employees grew by 11.8 percent and wages were raised by 30 percent.
Hotels saw their turnover index drop by around 2 percent in the final quarter of the year but hired an additional 5.4 percent and rose wages by 10.4 percent.
In the transport sector, the turnover index in the final quarter of 2013 registered a sharp 54 percent increase for travel agencies, slightly rose by 0.8 percent for maritime transport and dropped by 9.2 percent for the railway transport.
The telecommunication sector saw its turnover index rise by 15 percent and was up by 1.6 percent in the postal sector.
A double-digit rise in VAT and a recovery in imports of machinery, equipment and spare parts in early 2014 hints the Albanian economy is heading toward recovery after growth is expected to have decelerated to only 0.7 percent in 2013.
Finance Ministry data show the value added tax, which is levied at a fixed 20 percent rate on almost every product and service rose by 17.6 percent in the first two months of 2014, unveiling signs of a recovery in domestic consumption which has been the traditional key driver of the Albanian economy.
Imports of machinery, equipment and spare part, an item which indirectly measures private investments, unveils Albania’s private sector, which accounts for 80 percent of the GDP and provides the overwhelming majority of employment, is slightly more optimistic this year.
INSTAT data shows imports of this group rose by 9 percent to around 9.3 billion lek (Euro 65 million) year-on-year in the first two months of 2014.
