TIRANA – In a shift of attention to economic problems the Chairman of the opposition Democratic Party (DP), Lulzim Basha, continued his tour of meeting with a talk on Monday with representatives of the Albanian Microfinance Association (AMA).
Basha unveiled as priorities of the next DP government the strengthening of small business, opening of new businesses, mainly by young people and their employment, as support for agriculture.
Thanking the businessmen for the implementation of the moratorium, which helps borrowers in the aggravated situation after the pandemic, Basha shared the concern about the lack of liquidity and the economic crisis. “If we do not act quickly to overcome it, this will put the banking system and especially the microcredit institutions in a difficult position, as the inability of citizens and businesses to repay loans will increase,” he said.
Delay in repayment of installments and forced postponements have reduced by 60% the collection only in microcredit institutions. To date, there are 175,000 jobs created by businesses funded by microcredit institutions, where in 2019 alone these institutions have covered 68% of all credit applications in the country.
DP Head discussed with the president of the association Mrs. Arlinda Muja and the Secretary General Mrs. Brunilda Isaj focusing on the difficulty of success of consolidated businesses due to the economic situation that the country is going through and the continuous increase of taxes, which has negatively affected the opening of new businesses. It was emphasized at the meeting that the struggle for survival has caused many businesses to close jobs, where the most affected are young people.
“According to our platform, we plan state guarantees for microcredit institutions to help them in lending to small and medium enterprises, mainly run by young people, while support for agriculture will be considered a priority,” promised Basha who noted that DP’s economic program focuses on reducing the fiscal burden, especially for small business, supporting subsidies to farmers with at least 100 million euros a year, eliminating excess bureaucratic procedures and creating conditions for free competition./argumentum.al
