FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Albania has managed to maintain stable economic growth, despite the contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but still this has not served it to close the gap it has with the European Union in terms of GDP per capita in the power standard buyer.
A summary report of the Economic Commission for Europe at the United Nations, published this week, dwells on several aspects of the economy, highlighting, among other things, the challenges.
"Albania's economy has expanded at a slightly accelerated rate over the past decade, rebounding strongly from the contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite this, the pace of convergence with the EU has until recently been rather slow and GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standard still represents less than a third of the EU average.
Given this change in living standards, migratory outflows have been large, resulting in remittances that are close to 10% of GDP and a shrinking working-age population. "Employment in agriculture has been in constant decline, but still occupies about 35%", the report states.
Another element that the report takes into account is the fact that trade still remains below potential. Thus, trade openness is considered to be relatively low, which prevents the country from more fully overcoming the limitations of the small domestic market.
“The ability to integrate more fully into the global economy is limited by the shortcomings of the regulatory environment and inadequate infrastructure, which undermines connectivity.
Despite recent improvements, border crossing arrangements offer room for significant improvement.
Reducing regulatory risks and improving the quality of administration would have a positive impact on increasing trade and attracting FDI, thus supporting the diversification of exports and benefiting from potential shifts in investment flows due to proximity" underlines UNECE document.
Albania is estimated to have a poor innovation performance and low productivity growth slows the gains from development.
"The labor market is characterized by high levels of unemployment, low participation rates and widespread informality. Together with skills shortages, these structural characteristics limit productivity growth, while the share of employment in high-skilled occupations is much lower than that observed in other Western Balkan countries.
Innovation performance is poor, with a widening gap with the EU. There is considerable room to improve the business environment, judging by the various international rankings, in various dimensions", the document assesses./Monitor
Lini një Përgjigje