Economy
Economic overview:
An extremely poor country by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy. The economy rebounded in 1993-95 after a severe depression accompanying the collapse of the previous centrally planned system in 1990 and 1991. Stabilization policies - including a strict monetary policy, public sector layoffs, and reduced social services - have improved the government's fiscal situation and reduced inflation. The recovery has been spurred by the remittances of some 20% of the labor force which works abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy. These remittances supplement GDP and help offset the large foreign trade deficit. Foreign assistance and humanitarian aid also supported the recovery. Most agricultural land was privatized in 1992, substantially improving peasant incomes. Albania's industrial sector ended its five-year, 78% decline in 1995, recording roughly 6% growth. A sharp fall in chromium prices has reduced hard currency receipts from the mining sector. Large segments of the population, especially those living in urban areas, continue to depend on humanitarian aid to meet basic food requirements. Unemployment remains a severe problem accounting for approximately one-fifth of the work force. Now that sanctions on Serbia have been suspended, the falloff in hard currency earnings from smuggling will aggravate unemployment problems. Growth is expected to continue in 1996, but could falter if workers' remittances from Greece are reduced or foreign assistance declines.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $4.1 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
6% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita:
$1,210 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
55%
industry:
NA%
services:
NA% (1995 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
16% (1994 est.)
Labor force:
1.692 million (1994 est.) (including 352,000 emigrant workers and 261,000 domestically unemployed)
by occupation (of those domestically employed):
agriculture (nearly all private) 49.5%, private sector 22.2%, state (nonfarm) sector 28.3% (including state-owned industry 7.8%)
Unemployment rate:
19% (1994 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$486.3 million
expenditures:
$550.4 million, including capital expenditures of $124 million (1994)
Industries:
food processing, textiles and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower
Industrial production growth rate:
6% (1995 est.)
Electricity:
capacity:
1,662,000 kW
production:
3.9 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
1,219 kWh (1994 est.)
Agriculture:
wide range of temperate-zone crops and livestock
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route and cocaine from South America destined for Western Europe; limited opium production
Exports:
$141 million (f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities:
asphalt, metals and metallic ores, electricity, crude oil, vegetables, fruits, tobacco
partners:
Italy, US, Greece, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Imports:
$601 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities:
machinery, consumer goods, grains
partners:
Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
External debt:
$977 million (1994 est.)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $NA
Currency:
1 lek (L) = 100 qintars
Exchange rates:
leke (L) per US$1 - 95.65 (January 1996), 100.00 (January 1995), 99.00 (January 1994), 97.00 (January 1993), 50.00 (January 1992), 25.00 (September 1991)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
