From: Exit Staff
Parliament Set to Approve 2021 Budget Today

Today, the Albanian Parliament will discuss and most likely approve the draft budget for 2021.

A week ago it was approved in principle in the assembly and then parliamentary committees made some small changes. These amendments included changes in the budgets for institutions including the Ministry of Justice.

As Exit News has previously written, the 2021 draft budget drafted by the government is a budget for the election year, with optimistic claims for revenue collection. Around EUR 400 million is also allocated in concession contracts.

The Bank of Albania, during the meeting with the Committee on Economy,  expressed its concern about the forecasts made by the government in the draft budget 2021, especially for the collection of revenues for 2021, investments through Public-Private Partnerships and high public debt.

Among other things, the BoA has recommended to the government to be careful with the expenditures foreseen in the draft budgets, which are high, and to base them depending on the pace of revenue collection.

Regarding public debt, the BoA expresses concern that despite the government’s forecast to reduce debt by two percentage points by the end of 2021, the level of debt remains worrying.