The Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), Jorida Tabaku said in her speech in the Assembly discussing the price increase on Thursday that the situation in Albania was expected to come, although the war had not yet started between Russia and Ukraine.
“We, as the opposition, asked the Albanian government to be extremely careful when discussing the state budget and instead of freeing itself for PPP expenditures and concessions, we proposed it to be much more conservative, as the future was very uncertain, even more insecure than it has been before. But the majority arrogantly opposed,” she said.
Tabaku added that the Rama majority has implemented a selective fiscal policy and taxes were imposed on 95% of Albanians, avoiding only 5% of those who are oligarchs, concessionaires and winners of PPPs.
“The economic crisis that has begun to feel deeply since December 2021 has found Albanian citizens like this: Albanian families according to EUROSTAT and before this crisis of rising prices spend 42% of income on food basket products and beverages. This is the highest level of expenditure on this item in relation to revenue. This indication is 35% in the countries of the region, while 12% in those of the EU,” she said.
Albania is the country with the lowest per capita income in the region, being lower than Montenegro. Albanians have a GDP per capita of 5,084 dollars while it has the lowest level of foreign investment. Tabaku stressed that the reason for the increase in the price of oil is the taxes imposed by the government that are paid by the consumer and are 60% of the value of the oil sold at each gas station. /Argumentum.al
