[ALBSA-Info] Albania is doing well, the World Bank says

[ERI Budo]

This comes form the WB website-eri

International community meets to review reforms

March 2, 2001
—Donors meeting in Brussels Thursday praised Albania for pushing ahead with 
growth-stimulating macro-economic reforms. The country's economy continues 
to expand by 7 to 8 percent a year in the face of regional instability.
Chaired by the European Commission and the World Bank, the meeting brought 
Albanian officials together with representatives from 27 countries and 
twelve international organizations to discuss how the international 
community is supporting the country's reform process. The donors lauded 
Albania for improving revenue collection as well as for reforming and 
privatizing enterprises and the financial sector. But challenges remained, 
they said,spotlighting a struggling electricity sector and lacking public 
administration and legal systems.

After showcasing impressive economic growth since the fall of communism in 
the early 1990s, Albania was struck in 1997 by a
financial and political crisis sparked by the collapse of widespread
pyramid schemes. The next year, the country embarked on a broad recovery 
program addressing fundamental reform in the public administration and 
financial sectors, including institution-building, civil sector reform, and 
privatization of commercial banks. The economy soon recovered.
In early 1999, the Kosovo conflict and the resulting massive influx
of Kosovar refugees—which at the peak of the crisis swelled
Albania's population by 14 percent—created a new crisis for the
government, threatening internal security and stretching
administrative capacity. Despite these considerable strains and
uncertainties, the government kept its commitment to macroeconomic stability 
and structural reforms, aided by generous external assistance.
The chairpersons of Thursday's meeting, the European
Commission's Catherine Day and the World Bank's Christiaan
Poortman, said in a statement that "donors expressed their
satisfaction with the way in which Albania had put the crises of
1997 and 1999 (Kosovo) behind it," adding, "It is clear that the
international community present at this meeting considers the
ongoing reforms by the Albanian government to be based on
sound policies, and we are confident that there will be important
donor support for their programs."
Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paskal Milo said his
delegation had briefed participants on Albania's most recent
achievements in the context of the EU Stabilization and
Association Process and the preparation of its Growth and Poverty Reduction 
Strategy.

Finance Minister Anastas Angjeli explained the government's most
recent public resource management initiative, known as the
Medium Term Expenditure Framework. "The purpose of our
Medium-Term Expenditure Framework", he said, "is to strengthen
budget planning and achieve a more effective use of public resources, 
linking government policies to expenditure plans and introducing greater 
transparency in the budget formulation process." The donors welcomed the 
initiative and encouraged the government's efforts towards a more strategic 
prioritization of public expenditures and increased transparency in the use 
of budget funds.

Useful links:  World Bank's Europe and Central Asia website and
Economic Reconstruction and Development in South East Europe website.

The Consultative Group Meeting for Albania website.





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