May 17 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) expects Albania's economy to grow by 2.7% in 2022, it said, cutting its November forecast by 1 percentage point.
The revision is mainly affected by the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although only indirectly as Albania has little direct exposure to both countries, the Commission said in its Spring 2022 Economic Forecast report on Monday.
The Commission projects an economic growth of 3.1% in 2023 for Albania.
The general government deficit is expected to decline to 4.2% of GDP in 2022 from last year's 4.6%.
Private consumption is seen growing by 3% in 2022 after increasing 4.3% last year. At the same time, public consumption growth is forecast to decrease by 4.1% in 2022 after growing by 8.2% in 2021.
Inflation is forecast to accelerate to 4.9% in 2022 from 2% in 2021, before slowing down to 3.5% in 2023.
Albania's economy expanded by estimated 8.4% in 2021 after a 3.5% fall the previous year. The European Council granted the status of a EU candidate country to Albania in 2014.