TIRANA, November 13 – Albania is one of the countries with the most resistant economies in the region according to the IMF report, Prime Minister Edi Rama declared at the proceedings of the Extended Assembly of the Socialist Party (SP) gathered in the city of Pogradec on Monday.
The head of the government, who is also head of the SP, emphasized that for the year 2024 the budget foresees 400 million euros for salary increases, which, according to him, will estimate the average salary in the public sector at 900 euros.
“Instead of carrying the burden of working for someone else in England, Italy or Greece and anywhere else and in the end there is nothing left to invest your savings in any village, it is certain that at the end of the month you will leave with something here. I am not saying this today, but the facts of those who have done this,” he said.
According to Rama, the time when you went to Europe and could save enough to imagine doing a lot of things is no more. Salary-to-salary comparisons are not valid, what is left at the end counts, especially for young people.
About 46,460 Albanians left the country in 2022, a trend which has continued in 2023. This exodus was 10.5% higher than in 2021, with the majority, about 36,000, being young people, according to new data from the Albanian Institute of Statistics.
This data also shows that fewer Albanian young people are entering the labor force and completing their studies. For example, in the academic year 2021-2022, about 30,910 students graduated from higher education, marking a 5.4% decrease from the previous academic year.
Other sources, such as EU data, suggest families may also be leaving. Enrolment rates for the upcoming academic year 2022-2023 have declined by 4% for pupils in elementary schools.
For his part, PM Rama said the following: “Today we have in hand the IMF report which says that the country has one of the most resistant economies in the region. We have a debt reduction that we have never had; it is down to 60%. You know how much debt we had to deal with after earthquakes and pandemics that were out of our hands. If the economy is not resilient, the debt will not be reduced.”
In the meantime, he announced that his government will have 400 million euros for salary increases next year. “The average salary in the public sector will be 900 euros, we have created opportunities,” the PM said, among other things. /argumentum.al
