Albanian businesses are experiencing a major crisis due to increased prices.
Euronews Albania made a ground observation on some of the main neighborhoods in the capital to see how the crisis is affecting shopowners.
Closed shutters and signs like ‘store is on sale’ were not uncommon in any of these areas.
But in order to have an even more precise idea about the impact of the crisis, Euronews Albania sent an inquiry to the National Center of Business (QKB), which provided us with accurate data.
According to QKB, inflated prices started affecting Albanian businesses last June.
As per this data, from last June to December the toll of businesses that were forced to face closure reached 3,228.
In addition to that, from this January another 924 businesses closed down, that on average is 15 businesses per day.
According to the head of the association of small businesses, things started to decline during the pandemic, adding that the aid provided by the government was insufficient.
“Other countries like Kosovo accorded 1.9% of their GDP in aid for small businesses. Let alone Serbia who gave 4.6% of its GDP, in addition to cutting down local tariffs”, said Albert Nasto.
Another factor he pointed out is informality, citing data from INSTAT, the public statistics institute, 45% of Albanian businesses were part of the grey economy.
According to Nasto, the war in Ukraine dealt the last blow to the already aching small enterprises.
The head of the small businesses association proposed several measures to counter the crisis.
Nasto said that it should all start by tackling corruption and reducing local taxes, as well as having stable financial laws.
“In Albanian, the fiscal system has changed around 80 times in the last three decades”, Nasto said.
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