TIRANA (Albania), September 19 (SeeNews) – The Albanian economy has started rebalancing the sources of growth from construction and trade towards industry and export-related services, the governor of the Bank of Albania Gent Sejko said.
“The shift in financial, human and management resources between sectors of the economy needs time and is followed by a temporary slowdown of productivity,” Sejko said in a press release on Tuesday.
He also said the degree of expansion of productivity in the Albanian economy was reduced to 1% from 2% during the restructuring process.
“Among others, this process envisages a higher reliance of growth on export oriented sectors – such as industry and tourism - and a further orientation of financial resources towards the expansion of investments,” Sejko added.
According to the c-bank governor, the educational system reform and the emphasis on vocational training are essential dimensions of the economy’s restructuring, whose benefits will increasingly become clearer in the long run.
“However, Albania still has a lot of work to do in this regard, in particular with regard to containing the migration of its qualified labour force and the renewal of its labour force skills by the private sector,” he noted.
“Productivity is closely connected with the improvement of business management skills. The campaign to enhance formal business practices, the gradual increase of competition, and the revision of the law on bankruptcy will provide the necessary stimulus in this regard,” Sejko also said.
Albania's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an estimated 4.45 % year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, official statistics showed.
The main contributors to Albania's economic growth in January-March period were industry, electricity and water, information and telecommunications, professional, scientific and technical activities, as well as trade, transport and accommodation services.
Albania’s 2018 state budget envisages up to 4% economic growth and deficit equivalent to 2% of GDP.