The international community participating in the Donors’ Conference for Albania have pledged €1.15 billion in donations, grants and loans to help the country rebuild from the aftermath of the November 26, 2019 earthquake.
In his opening speech, Prime Minister Rama thanked more than 100 participating countries and international banks in several languages, and asked for their financial assistance to help recovery efforts.
A joint needs assessment report by the EU, the UN, the World Bank, and the Albanian government, found that more than 47 thousand people were affected directly by the earthquake, whereas about 17 thousand were displaced. The report assessed damages amounted to nearly €1 billion and over 10,000 people are still living in tents.
In the wake of this report, and the upcoming donors’ conference, Minister Arben Ahmetaj expressed his hopes that a combined €450 million in grants and loans would be achieved.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said the amount pledged was “beyond the wildest imagination”.
Commitments from participating countries:
- European Commission € 115 million
- France € 100 million (€ 60 million loan)
- UAE € 70 million
- Italy € 65 million
- Turkey € 45 million
- Germany € 11 million
- Switzerland € 9 million
- Sweden € 5.6 million
- Qatar € 5 million
- US € 4.3 million
- The Netherlands € 3 million
- Poland € 2.7 million
- Japan € 2.5 million
- Greece € 2.5 million
- Denmark € 2 million
- Serbia € 2 million
- UK 89 million
- Croatia € 1 million
- Austria € 1 million
- Norway € 500 thousand
- Montenegro € 500 thousand
- Azerbaijan € 500 thousand
- Romania € 420 thousand
- Czech € 380 thousand
- Ireland € 300 thousand
- Finland € 300 thousand
- Slovenia € 300 thousand
- Kosovo € 250 thousand
- Slovakia € 250 thousand
- Hungary € 250 thousand
- Luxembourg € 250 thousand
- Bulgaria € 100 thousand
- Macedonia € 97 thousand
- Bosnia and Herzegovina € 50 thousand
- Spain € 25 thousand
Grants and loans from international banks:
- Islamic Development Bank € 365 million
- World Bank € 160 million
- European Investment Bank € 100 million
- Council of Europe Development Bank € 100 million
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development € 80 million
