Albania bank account
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Information
Economy—overview: Lagging behind its Balkan neighbors, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The government has taken measures to curb violent crime and reduce the large grey economy. The economy is bolstered by annual remittances from abroad of $600-$800 million, mostly from Albanians residing in Greece and Italy; this helps offset the towering trade deficit. Agriculture, which accounts for about one-quarter of GDP, is held back because of lack of modern equipment, unclear property rights, and the prevalence of small, inefficient plots of land. Energy shortages and antiquated and inadequate infrastructure contribute to Albania's poor business environment, which make it difficult to attract and sustain foreign investment. The planned construction of a new thermal power plant near Vlore and improved transmission and distribution facilities eventually will help relieve the energy shortages. Also, the government is moving slowly to improve the poor national road and rail network, a long-standing barrier to sustained economic growth. On the positive side: growth was strong in 2003-06 and inflation is low and stable.
GDP: $20.21 billion
note: Albania has a large gray economy that may be as large as 50% of official GDP (2006 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 5% (2006 est.)
GDP—per capita: $3,600 (2006 est.)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 23.3%
industry: 18.8%
services: 57.9% (2006 est.)
Inflation rate—consumer price index: 2.8% (2006 est.)
Labor force:
total: 1.442 million (2004 est.) (including 352 000 emigrant workers.)
by occupation:
agriculture: 58%
industry: 19%
services: 23% (2004 est.)
Unemployment rate: 14.3% official rate, but may exceed 30% due to preponderance of near-subsistence farming (2005 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $2.323 billion
expenditures: $2.587 billion; including capital expenditures of $300 million (2006 est.)
Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower
Industrial production growth rate: 3.1% (2004 est.)
Electricity—production: 5.434 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity—consumption: 5.231 billion kWh (2004)
Agriculture—products: wheat, corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar beets, grapes; meat, dairy products
Exports:
total value: $763.2 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)
commodities: textiles and footwear; asphalt, metals and metallic ores, crude oil; vegetables, fruits, tobacco
partners: Italy 72.4%, Greece 10.5%, Serbia and Montenegro 5% (2005)
Imports:
total value: $2.901 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
commodities: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, textiles, chemicals
partners: Italy 29.3%, Greece 16.4%, Turkey 7.5%, China 6.6%, Germany 5.4%, Russia 4% (2005)
Debt—external: $1.55 billion (2004)
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA: $366 million (top donors were Italy, EU, Germany) (2003 est.) Currency: lek (ALL)
note: the plural of lek is leke
Exchange rates: leke per US dollar - 98.5927 (2006), 102.649 (2005), 102.78 (2004), 121.863 (2003), 140.155 (2002)
Fiscal year: calendar year
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