Albania raises revenue f'cast in 2024 budget revision

The revision follows an overall positive 2023 budget data published earlier this week, Mete said in a press release. Revenue increased by 12% to 643 billion leks in 2023, and the finance ministry sees the upward trend continuing in the first months of 2024, Mete added.

In the original 2024 budget bill endorsed by parliament at the end of the last year, revenue was projected at 676 billion leks, or 27.8% of GDP, the finance ministry said at the time. Expenditures were set at 737.4 billion leks, or 30.3% of GDP, resulting in a projected budget deficit equivalent to 2.5% of GDP.

Mete also announced a state guarantee instrument of 4 billion leks to support the apparel manufacturing industry to invest in newer technology and mitigate financial damage caused by external factors. The guarantee aims to facilitate manufacturers' access to financing from local banks.

Exports of the apparel manufacturing sector in Albania dropped 11.4% year-on-year in October, the Albanian shoe and textile manufacturing association, Pro-Export Albania, said in a letter to the finance ministry in November, as quoted by local media. The drop was attributed to the appreciation of the local lek currency against the euro.

(1 euro = 103.7 Albanian leks)