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Albania Economy

Economy - overview: Poor by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy. The economy rebounded in 1993–95 after a severe depression accompanying the end of the previous centrally planned system in 1990 and 1991. However, a weakening of government resolve to maintain stabilization policies in the election year of 1996 contributed to renewal of inflationary pressures, spurred by the budget deficit which exceeded 12% of GDP. The collapse of financial pyramid schemes in early 1997 - which had attracted deposits from a substantial portion of Albania's population - triggered severe social unrest which led to more than 1,500 deaths, widespread destruction of property, and a 7% drop in GDP. The government has taken measures to curb violent crime and to revive economic activity and trade. The economy is bolstered by remittances from some 20% of the labor force that works abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy. These remittances supplement GDP and help offset the large foreign trade deficit. Most agricultural land was privatized in 1992, substantially improving peasant incomes. In 1998, Albania recovered the 7% drop in GDP of 1997 and pushed ahead by 8% in 1999 and by 7.5% in 2000. International aid helped defray the high costs of receiving and returning refugees from the Kosovo conflict. Privatization scored some successes in 2000, but other reforms lagged.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $10.5 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 7.5% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,000 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 55%

industry: 24%

services: 21% (2000)

Population below poverty line: 19.6% (1996 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%

highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 1.692 million (including 352,000 emigrant workers and 261,000 domestically unemployed) (1994 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 50%, industry and services 50%

Unemployment rate: 16% (2000 est.) officially; may be as high as 25%

Budget: revenues: $393 million

expenditures: $676 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

Industrial production growth rate: 9% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production: 5.332 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 3.81%

hydro: 96.19%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 5.379 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 100 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 600 million kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar beets, grapes; meat, dairy products

Exports: $310 million (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: textiles and footwear; asphalt, metals and metallic ores, crude oil; vegetables, fruits, tobacco

Exports - partners: Italy 67%, Greece 15%, Germany 5%, Austria 2%,

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 2% (2000)

Imports: $1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, textiles, chemicals

Imports - partners: Italy 37%, Greece 28%, Turkey 6%, Germany 6%,

Bulgaria 3% (2000)

Debt - external: $1 billion (2000)

Economic aid - recipient: $NA; aid for energy from China, Germany,

Norway (2000)

Currency: lek (ALL)

Currency code: ALL

Exchange rates: leke per US dollar - 146.08 (December 2000),143.71 (2000) 137.69 (1999), 150.63 (1998), 148.93 (1997), 104.50 (1996); note - leke is the plural of lek

Fiscal year: calendar year

Albania Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 87,000 (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 3,100 (1999)

Telephone system: general assessment: Albania has the poorest telephone service in Europe with fewer than two telephones per 100 inhabitants; it is doubtful that every village has telephone service

domestic: obsolete wire system; no longer provides a telephone for every village; in 1992, following the fall of the communist government, peasants cut the wire to about 1,000 villages and used it to build fences

international: inadequate; international traffic carried by microwave radio relay from the Tirana exchange to Italy and Greece

Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 3, shortwave 2 (1999)

Radios: 810,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 9 (plus 264 repeaters) (1995)

Televisions: 405,000 (1997)

Internet country code: .al

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 7 (2000)

Internet users: 2,500 (2000)

Albania Transportation

Railways: total: 447 km

standard gauge: 447 km 1.435-m gauge (2001)

Highways: total: 18,000 km

paved: 5,400 km

unpaved: 12,600 km (1998 est.)