The Minister of Finance, Petrit Malaj, speaking at a meeting of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, stated that wages in the country have followed an upward trend. He emphasized that the average salary in the public sector stands at €1,026, while the average salary in the private sector is €785.
He noted that through the 2026 budget, the government will continue increasing the national minimum wage, raising it from 40,000 lek to 50,000 lek. The minister also stated that starting in 2026, the implementation of a wage indexation scheme in the public sector has begun.
Additionally, the minister announced plans to increase and index pensions. He added that higher budget expenditures have been planned for key sectors such as education, social protection, healthcare, and agriculture.
“Beyond the positive macroeconomic and fiscal developments, which include the successful issuance of the Eurobond in February 2025 for €650 million,
The coverage ratio — in other words, foreign investor demand for the Albanian Eurobond — exceeded our needs by 4.3 times, marking one of the highest levels of demand ever achieved.
Throughout 2025, we also approved the Sovereign Guarantee for the agricultural sector, making approximately €30 million available to farmers in soft loans with 2% interest rates, while guaranteeing up to 70% of the loans. This scheme will remain operational during 2026 as well.
Together with the Bank of Albania, we approved a credit line of approximately €250 million, which can be used to provide soft loans with interest rates of up to 3% for small and medium-sized enterprises.
During 2025, we established the state-owned company ‘Albtrace’ to provide fiscal stamp services and fuel marking services, which were previously concession contracts and will now be handled by the state. We project annual revenues of approximately €10 million from this initiative.
At the end of 2025, the Albanian Development Bank was founded, modeled after Casa Depositi e Prestiti — a financial institution aimed at lending to under-financed sectors of the economy, as well as to strategic government projects of economic or social importance,” the minister stated.
