October 11 (SeeNews) - Albania's prime minister Edi Rama said that the government plans to set up a sovereign fund of 200 million euro ($231 million) in order to cope with an expected rise in domestic electricity prices triggered by high energy prices in international markets.
The fund will provide loan guarantees to state-owned power distributor OSHEE aimed at securing financial means to buy electricity, guarantee uninterrupted power supply, and protect households and small enterprises from the rise in energy prices, Rama said in a press release on Saturday.
On Friday, the government declared a state of emergency in the energy sector, Rama said in a separate statement posted on Facebook. He noted that Albania currently is buying energy at higher prices than the price of its power exports, because the country is buying energy in times of drought and sells electricity during wet seasons.
Almost all of Albania’s electricity is produced by hydro power plants.
($ = 0.86374 euro)