Albania Calls Index
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ALBANIA CALLS INDEX ▶ COUNTRY PROFILE ▶ TOP 4 REASONS TO INVEST IN ALBANIA ▶ INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS CLIMATE ▶ MACRO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS Albania has started a new chapter of sustainable and long-term economic development. The Government has designed a new economic model based on deep structural reforms with a specific focus on boosting domestic production, exports and foreign direct investments. Over the last 24 years, Albania has experienced a difficult transition process. During this process, Albania has encountered many successes and hardships. The country’s economic potential has never been fully used. With the EU ambition in mind, the Government of Albania has committed itself to create a new economic model and a more competitive investment climate. The 2014 was the year of deep reforms for Albania. The Government has undertaken structural reforms aiming to reshape the business climate and environment. The new legal framework on tourism, strategic investments, public-private partnership and free economic zones, will ensure productive inputs of economic growth contributing to increase the foreign investment inflow. The Berlin Process marked the beginning of a historical process for the Western Balkan countries, with main focus the connectivity in the Region. A number of important projects in infrastructure are designed. The TAP project is very important for Albania because it will enable the connection of Albania with the natural gas network. Foreign investment is a key factor for the new government, not only because FDIs provide liquidity, employment and development, but especially because they assist raising the performance level of economic sectors. As a result, the Albanian Government is fully committed to be a determined and reliable partner to investors, ready to assist them to overcome all the obstacles to a free and competitive market. Today we are fully aware that in order for the economy to make a quality jump, a strong partnership between the public and private sector must be established, to address the mistakes of the past and to build a new future together. Today Albania is more open to investors and this readiness will determine the economic success of the country. Namely for this reason, today more than ever, we want to invite you to discover Albania as a country of opportunities. Arben Ahmetaj Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Entrepreneurship MONTENEGRO KOSOVO Bajram Curri Shkoder Puke Kukes Lezhe Rreshen Peshkopi Burrel Kruje MACEDONIA Adriatic Durres Tirana Sea Librazhd Elbasan Lushnje Pogradec Gramsh Fier Berat Corovode Korce Vlore Erseke Tepelene Permet Gjirokaster Ionian Sea Sarande GREECE 0 50 miles 0 50 km COUNTRY PROFILE COUNTRY PROFILE General Information • Surface area: 28,748 km2 • Length of coastline: 316 km • Capital city: Tirana • Currency: Albanian Lek (ALL) Location • Time zone: GMT +1 hour • Situated in South-eastern Europe • Borders the Adriatic and Ionian Seas • Directly borders Greece, Macedo- nia, Montenegro and Kosovo • It is entry gate to global markets through its four ports Population • Language: Albanian • Total population: 2.8 million (Data from INSTAT) • Median age: 31.6 years (2014 data from CIA Fact book) • Literacy rate: 96.8 % (data from CIA Fact book) Political System • The Albanian government is a Parlia- mentary Republic • President since 2012 is HE Mr. Bujar Nishani • Prime Minister since 2013 is HE Mr. Edi Rama Climate • Albania has a mild climate with 270 to 300 days of sun per annum Natural Resources • Albania is a country rich in natural resources • Key resources include petroleum, gas, bauxite, chromium, copper, iron ore, nickel, salt and timber • Huge potential to produce signif- icant amounts of water, wind and solar energy 7 ECONOMIC TRADE INTEGRATION Albania benefits from extensive Free Trade Agreements with: ▶ EU ▶ Central Europe (through CEFTA) ▶ Europe (through EFTA) ▶ Turkey ▶ USA (under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program)* Free access to a market of over 600 millionNORWAY customers. Albania is also a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) and applies WTO rules to all import licensing. FINLAND SWEDEN * Trade benefits for preferential duty-free entry for about 5.000 products. Turku Helsinki ALAND RUSSIA Oslo Tallinn Stockholm ISLANDS ESTONIA Moscow Göteborg Gotland LATVIA Riga¯ Öland LITHUANIA DENMARK Malmö Vilnius Copenhagen Minsk Kaliningrad RUSSIA Dublin Bornholm BELARUS Gdan´sk Hrodna IRELAND UNITED Chernihiv KINGDOM Warsaw Brest Berlin Amsterdam POLAND Kyiv NETH. Zhytomyr London UKRAINE Brussels L'viv Lille BEL. Vinny tsya GERMANY Prague Kraków CZECH REPUBLIC Chernivtsi Mykolayiv Paris LUX. SLOVAKIA Strasbourg Bratislava Odesa Vienna Budapest MOLDOVA AUSTRIA HUNGARY Bern SWITZ. ROMANIA Ljubljana FRANCE Bucharest a¸tnatsnoC Belgrade Varna CROATIA SERBIA MONACO BULGARIA Pristina MONT. Sofia KOS. Istanbul ITALY Podgorica Skopje Corsica Rome MACE. VATICAN Thessaloníki PORTUGAL2800 MadridKM 2300 KM 1700 KM 1200 KMCITY 600 KM 280 KM TURKEY Lisbon ALBANIA SPAIN Sardinia GREECE BALEARIC Athens ISLANDS Sicily Vallea MALTA TOP 4 REASONS TO INVEST IN ALBANIA TOP 4 REASONS TO INVEST IN ALBANIA Healthy Growth, Young Workforce, Vibrant Industries and Comprehensive Reforms. Export-oriented Growth 1 Albania has a dynamic export sector. Albania’s export has a 24% annual growth rate for the past five years and its trade with many EU countries has been surging. Exports has grown from 1 billion USD to 2.5 billion these years. Trade is playing an increasingly important role in Albania, contributing to almost half of the country’s GDP in 2012. Competitive Human Capital 2 • 57% of Albania’s population is under the age of 35 • The average wage in Albania is one of the most competitive in the region. The minimum wage is the lowest in the region • Albania has over 1 million well-educated, highly-motivated professionals • English, Italian and Greek are all widely spoken while French and German are included in education curricula at school • Each year, more than 100,000 students enroll at university Promising Sectorial Opportunities 3 Albania has a range of public-private investment opportunities It also has a range of opportunities in stable and growing sec- tors such as: Manufacturing, Energy, Agriculture, Mechanic industry and Tourism Comprehensive Structural Reforms 4 Government is launching major reforms to better share growth with foreign investors: • Free Economic Zones • New PPP Law • Strategic investments law • Tourism law 9 INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS CLIMATE A SUPPORTIVE LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON FOREIGN INVESTMENTS No prior government authorization is needed for foreign investments and no sector restrictions. Business Environment and Economic Freedom In the last year Albania jumped 40 positions (from 108 to 68) in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2015, performing exceptionally well in three indicators: pay- ing taxes, registering property and providing investor’s protection (ranked 7th in the world, and best in the region). According to EBRD, Albania was the top reformer country in the region in 2014. The Heritage Foundation’s 2015 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Albania very fa- vorably compared to other countries in the region. Albania scores highest in trade, fiscal and investment freedom indicators. Standard & Poor’s improved twice the outlook for the country, from B (-) to B (stable) to B (+) Credit Watch / Outlook Action / Sovereign Credit Rating Doing Business 2015 Globally, Albania has a good performance and is ranked 7th out of 189 economies related to investor’s protection. Source: Doing Business 2015 10 INVESTMENT AND BUSINESS CLIMATE According to the World Bank Report 2015, Albania has experienced the highest economic growth in the region. The business climate has improved significantly. 2013 2014e 2015f Albania 1.4 2.1 3.0 Bosnia & Herzegovina 2.5 0.4 1.5 Kosovo 3.4 2.5 3.0 FYR Macedonia 2.7 3.3 3.5 Montenegro 3.3 1.5 3.4 Serbia 2.6 -2.0 -0.5 SEE6 2.5 0.2 1.3 Source: National Statistical Offices and World Bank Projections. Note: SEE6 is a weighted average. For investors, Albania is a highly attractive, growing market with stable economic, political and legal structure, as well as a liberalized economic framework and good conditions for doing business. The Government of Albania is undertaking a wide range of structural reforms to strengthen the rule of law and to create an inter- nationally competitive business environment. A new economic model is in place, with focus on production and exports through major structural reforms. Further business climate reform is taking place in order to better share the growth oppor- tunities with foreign investors. Foreign direct investments (FDI) inflow figure in Albania, for the year 2014 reached 878 million Euro (preliminary calculations). FDI Inflow in mln Euro 923 878 793 717 746 746 665 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014* Source: INSTAT, Bank of Albania, Ministry of Finance The focus for the future development of the Albanian economy will remain on attracting FDIs with a focus on sectors where the Albanian economy has un- exploited potential both in terms of natural resources as well as in developing sectors that are not yet performing to their full potential, such as renewable energy, tourism, agribusiness, infrastructure and services. Albania has adopt- ed a liberal framework which has been designed to create a favorable invest- ment climate for foreign investors. 11 THE NEW LAW ON STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS The Government approved the New Law on Strategic Investments, which aims the promotion and attraction of The law foresees as strategic invest- strategic investments, both domestic ments the private, the public or pub- and foreign, in those sectors of the lic-private investments, in the follow- economy identified as strategic sec- ing sectors: tors by this law through special, facil- itating or accelerating administrative procedures. Energy and minings, The law aims to boost foreign invest- Transport, ments and will be in force until Decem- telecommunications, ber 2018, which means that during this infrastructure and urban period foreign and Albanian investors waste, will profit by accelerated procedures and supporting incentives.