Albania is failing to absorb foreign financing. In the first half of the year, the country managed to receive only a third of the money that foreigners provide for the purpose of making investments. Data from the Ministry of Finance show that out of more than 10 billion lek planned, only 7.2 billion were received by the end of June, writes A2 CNN.
Among other things, 4.1 billion lek were not disbursed to the Ministry of Defense in the investment that was to be made in the Tirana military department for the combat forces, while 1.7 billion lek were not allocated to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy.
Ministry of Finance: “The level of absorption of foreign financing is not determined only by the funds made available, but also by the progress of projects and the timely completion of the procedures necessary for their disbursement.”
What makes the situation even more worrying is that from year to year, Albania is receiving less foreign funding. If in 2018, the country managed to receive even more than the planned amount, last year only 43.8 of the available funds were received.
Ministry of Finance: “Delays in procurement, technical approvals, expropriations or contract implementation may affect the pace of disbursement of funds. For this reason, the difference between committed funding and disbursed funds is mainly related to the timing of project implementation and not to the lack of available foreign funding.”