The budget deficit in Albania stood at 29.9 billion leks (243 million euro) in the first seven months of the year, according to data published by the finance ministry.
During the same period a year ago, it stood at 49.3 billion leks. Consolidated budget revenue reached 281.4 billion leks in the January-July period, up 20% year-on-year, while expenditures increased by 10% to 311.3 billion leks.
Income tax revenue rose by 16.2% to 141.5 billion leks in the seven months through July y-o-y, while customs revenue was up 23.5% to 101.8 billion leks.
For 2021, the Albanian government has forecast economic growth of 5.5% and budget deficit of 120.5 billion leks, (equivalent to 6.9% of the projected GDP.)
Last month, Fitch Solutions maintained its forecast for Albania’s real GDP to grow by 5.7% in 2021, rebounding from a 3.3% contraction in 2020.
Last year, Albania, experienced a budget deficit widening by 6.90% of GDP.
For comparison, in 2020 the government deficit of both the euro area and the EU increased significantly compared with 2019, as did the government debt, in the context of the measures undertaken in response to the COVID-19 crisis. According to Eurostat data, in the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio rose from 0.6% in 2019 to 7.2% in 2020, and in the EU from 0.5% to 6.9%. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio increased from 83.9% at the end of 2019 to 98.0% at the end of 2020, and in the EU from 77.5% to 90.7%.
In 2020, all EU countries reported a deficit. The highest deficits were recorded in Spain (-11.0%), Malta (-10.1%), Greece (-9.7%), Italy (-9.5%), Belgium (-9.4%), France and Romania (both -9.2%), Austria (-8.9%), Slovenia (-8.4%), Hungary (-8.1%), Croatia and Lithuania (both -7.4%) and Poland (-7.0%). All EU member states, except Denmark (-1.1%), had deficits higher than 3% of GDP.
At the end of 2020, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (18.2%), Luxembourg (24.9%), Bulgaria (25.0%), Czechia (38.1%) and Sweden (39.9%). Fourteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (205.6%), Italy (155.8%), Portugal (133.6%), Spain (120.0%), Cyprus (118.2%), France (115.7%) and Belgium (114.1%), Eurostat said.
In 2020, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 54.1% of GDP and government revenue to 46.8%. The figures for the EU were 53.4% and 46.5%, respectively. In both zones, the government expenditure ratio increased significantly, while the government revenue ratio increased only slightly.
