President Ilir Meta stated on Friday that the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund made 3 days ago have been presented by him through decrees. He listed 11 IMF recommendations emphasizing that the main challenges for the country’s economy are twofold.
Among the main challenges for Albania’s economy are mentioned efficient investment in people and economy, support of the continuous development of the country and the reconstruction of fiscal policy maneuver space to reduce the very high deficit fiscal and public debt ratio.
IMF’s suggestions, according to the head of state, include drafting and implementing a credible medium-term fiscal regulation plan starting in 2022, which should set the reduction of the primary deficit to about 2% of GDP in 2022 and steadily achieve a positive primary balance of about 1.5% of GDP in 2024.
Another suggestion is that highly ambitious public investments, which have grown rapidly since 2020, financed by domestic (non-earthquake related) resources, should be moderated given their poor implementation capacity and low efficiency.
“Budget support should be better oriented to the people who need it most for the provision of health care and especially for vaccination, as well as to provide support for the most needy part of society, especially given the increase in food prices and energy,”one suggestion pointed out.
Among other things, it is suggested that the most important thing is to increase efforts to strengthen the rule of law in order to minimize the weaknesses arising from corruption, increase transparency and competitiveness. / /argumentum.al
