September 18 (SeeNews) - Albania's current account deficit rose by 8.0% on the year to 681.3 million euro ($1.0 billion) in the first half of 2009, the country's central bank said on Friday.
Albania’s current account gap in 2008 was 1.3 billion euro, equivalent to 15.2% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), versus 831 million euro deficit, or 10.5% of GDP, in 2007.
ALBANIA BALANCE OF PAYMENTS (in millions of euro):
|
H1'09 |
H1'08 |
Q2'09 |
2008 |
CURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCE |
-681.3 |
-630.8 |
-359.8 |
-1,318.8 |
-Trade balance |
-1,083.8 |
-1,088.6 |
-567.4 |
-2,431.5 |
- Services |
-39.8 |
-21.2 |
-18.4 |
+69.5 |
- Net income |
-14.9 |
+3.1 |
-10.6 |
+106.4 |
- Current transfers |
+455.4 |
+476.0 |
+236.6 |
+963.8 |
CAPITAL ACCOUNT |
+35.8 |
+30.6 |
+16.2 |
+78.2 |
FINANCIAL ACCOUNT |
+674.4 |
+508.9 |
+417.5 |
+1,454.6 |
Direct Investments |
+424.1 |
+193.4 |
+301.8 |
+590.5 |
Total Balance |
+10.7 |
-17.1 |
+141.6 |
+191.9 |
Albania’s economy grew by a real 7.2% last year, faster than the 6.1% growth target and the 6.0% rise recorded in 2007. The government has projected nominal GDP growth of 6.3% to 1.18 trillion leks ($11.9 billion/9.0 billion euro) this year.
($=0.6806 euro)