Prime Minister Edi Rama, during a presentation on Thursday in Dimal, Berat, outlined the achievements of key sectors.
He addressed several issues, including pensions, taxation, and gender inequality—areas which, according to the prime minister, have shown improvement.
“The average pension used to be 111 euros, today it’s 300 euros. What matters is that by 2030 in Albania, the average pension will be 400 euros and the minimum pension will be 200 euros. Another key point is taxation. We’ve relieved both employees and small businesses from taxes.
As we promised, this will remain unchanged until 2029. We will not impose any taxes on small businesses. By removing these taxes, 66 million euros have been saved by the people—money which, before we took office, went to the state,” Rama stated.
He also emphasized progress on gender inequality: “Albania ranked 83rd in the world for gender inequality; today we are 23rd, based on the UN’s classification.”
During his speech, the prime minister presented statistics showing improvements in wages, a reduction in unemployment, and an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“GDP is the total value a country produces. When we took office, it was under 10 billion euros—today it has surpassed 25 billion euros. Our goal is to increase this to 35 billion euros by 2030. This is another indicator of our growth compared to the region. Albania ranks first in the region for GDP growth over the last decade. Public debt has dropped to a normal level of 54%, and our 2030 projection is to reduce it to 50%, or slightly below.
At one point, 25% of individuals or businesses with bank loans were unable to repay them—this was the red alert moment where the banking system was at risk,” he said.
Rama also announced a new government initiative aimed at supporting unemployed mothers with three or more children, to ensure they do not miss out on pension benefits.
“For unemployed mothers with three or more children, we’ve launched an initiative for the government to pay their social and health insurance contributions. This way, despite being out of the workforce due to their role as mothers, they will not be left without a pension.
We are allocating 25 million euros annually for 9,200 unemployed mothers with three or more children,” Rama added.
