UPDATE 1 - Albania's 9-mo C/A Gap Widens 58% Y/Y to 843 Mln Euro - Table

Foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country rose by an annual 2.6% in the nine-month period of 2008 to 380 million euro, the central bank said its nine-month economic report.

“The widening trade deficit was the main reason for the deepening of the current account gap. The deficit in the services sector has also increased during the period,” the bank said.

Albania targets this year a current account deficit equivalent to 11% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP is expected to grow in nominal terms to 1,075.710 billion leks this year, up by a real 6.1%.

Last year the country's current account gap was 878.1 million euro, also equivalent to 11% of the GDP. In 2006 it was 535.1 million euro, equivalent to 7.3% of GDP.

In the 2009 budget, approved by Albania’s government on November 27, the current account gap is set at 8.3% of GDP, and GDP is projected to grow in nominal terms to 1,180 billion leks , up by a real 6.3%.

Albania's nine-month trade deficit widened by 15% on the year. Exports reached 707.5 million euro, up by 20%, while imports totalled 2.4 billion euro, 16.5% higher on the year.

The rate of imports' growth in the nine-month period was the same as last year, as one of the main factors of the rise are the higher fuel prices, the bank said in the report.

ALBANIA BALANCE OF PAYMENTS (in millions of euro):

($=0.7831 euro)