Even though the government has openly expressed its optimism that Albania is heading towards a complete reopening for the tourist season, the World Bank has predicted that restrictions will remain in force due to the time that vaccine rollout will take.
The warning was made in its most recent economic report on Europe and Central Asia which also forecasted economic growth slower than the government’s expectations.
“Tourism and travel will be limited until the global distribution of the vaccine. Under this scenario, the GDP is expected to grow by 4.4% in 2021”, the World Bank noted.
In addition, the report points out that last year 28.000 people dipped into poverty as a consequence of the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Poverty (at USD 5.5 per day) is estimated to have increased in 2020 by 1 percentage point, equivalent to 28 thousand new poor”, the World Bank reported.
With increased economic activity, stimulated mainly by the earthquake reconstruction process, revenues are projected to recover meanwhile public debt is projected to only marginally decrease to 79.5 percent of GDP in 2021, out of the 80% that resulted in 2020.
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