Albania

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Country summary

Capital

Tirana (Tirane)

Borders

Greece 282 km, Macedonia 151 km, Montenegro 172 km, Kosovo 112 km

Government type

republic

Population

3,639,453 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth %

0.55 (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

77.96 years[1]

Unemployment

12.8% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

53[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

95[3]

Doing Business ranking

82[4]


Albania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, but was conquered by Italy in 1939. Communist partisans took over the country in 1944. Albania allied itself first with the USSR (until 1960), and then with China (to 1978). In the early 1990s, Albania ended 46 years of xenophobic Communist rule and established a multiparty democracy. The transition has proven challenging as successive governments have tried to deal with high unemployment, widespread corruption, a dilapidated physical infrastructure, powerful organized crime networks, and combative political opponents. Albania has made progress in its democratic development since first holding multiparty elections in 1991, but deficiencies remain. International observers judged elections to be largely free and fair since the restoration of political stability following the collapse of pyramid schemes in 1997; however, there have been claims of electoral fraud in every one of Albania's post-communist elections. In the 2005 general elections, the Democratic Party and its allies won a decisive victory on pledges to reduce crime and corruption, promote economic growth, and decrease the size of government. The election, and particularly the orderly transition of power, was considered an important step forward. Albania joined NATO in April 2009 and is a potential candidate for EU accession. Although Albania's economy continues to grow, the country is still one of the poorest in Europe, hampered by a large informal economy and an inadequate energy and transportation infrastructure.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Lek (ISO code: ALL)
  • Central bank discount rate: 6.25% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 13.02% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $3.028 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $6.251 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[6] 3 434 3 687 4 091 4 449 5 652 7 464 8 376 9 098 10 831 12 295
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[7]
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[8] 23.435 24.071 23.631
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[9] 24.266 22.736 21.940
Debt to revenue (years)

Additional data form Albanian public sources (the Institute of Statistics[10], Bank of Albania[11], and the Ministry of Finances[12]):

Statistic / Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Real per capita GDP, in USD[10] 1,078 756 889 1,121 1,189 1,323 1,437 1,831 2,336 2,597 2,854 3,385 4,076 no data
Annual real GDP growth, %[10] 9 -11 9 14 7 8 4 6 6 6 5 6 8 no data
Annual CPI change, % (2007=100)[10] 17 42 9 -1 4 4 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 4
M1 annual change, %[11] 53 1 -9 23 20 15 7 -5 19 32 9 0 17 no data
M2 annual change, %[11] 38 34 23 20 10 15 6 8 12 9 12 5 9 no data
M3 annual change, %[11] 44 28 21 22 12 20 6 8 13 14 17 13 7 no data
Unemployment, %[11] 12 15 18 18 17 16 16 15 14 14 14 14 13 no data
Debt/GDP ratio, %[12] no data no data no data no data 60.73 58.54 62.84 58.82 56.47 57.45 56.07 53.48 54.77 59.68
Internal debt/GDP ratio, %[12] no data no data no data no data 42.85 41.34 41.87 40.45 39.32 40.18 39.55 38.23 36.81 36.30
External debt/GDP ratio, %[12] no data no data no data no data 17.88 17.20 20.97 18.37 17.15 17.27 16.52 15.25 17.96 23.38

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Albania", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Albania", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Albania", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Albania", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 348. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
  6. ↑ World Bank. "Albania: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Albania: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Albania: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Albania: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 "Institute of Statistics" (page in Albanian), referenced 2010-11-08. Specific data sources:
    • Real per capita GDP, in USD: [1] (xls)
    • Annual real GDP growth, %: [2] (xls)
    • Annual CPI change, % (2007=100): [3] (xls)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Bank of Albania", (page in Albanian), referenced 2010-11-08. Specific data sources:
    • M1 annual change, %: [4]
    •  M2 annual change, %: [5]
    •  M3 annual change, %: [6]
    •  Unemployment, %: [7]
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 "Albanian Ministry of Finance" (page in Albanian), referenced 2010-11-08. Specific data sources:
    • Debt/GDP ratio, %: [8]
    • Internal debt/GDP ratio, %: [9]
    • External debt/GDP ratio, %: [10]

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