Overview: An extremely poor country by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy. The economy rebounded in 1993 after a severe depression accompanying the collapse of the previous centrally planned system in 1990 and 1991. Stabilization policies, including public sector layoffs and reduced social services, have improved the government's fiscal situation and reduced inflation. The recovery was spurred by the remittances of some 5% of the population which works abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy. Foreign assistance and humanitarian aid also supported the recovery. Most agricultural land was privatized in 1992, substantially improving peasant incomes. Albania's limited industrial sector, now less than one-sixth of GDP, continued to decline in 1993. A sharp fall in chromium prices reduced hard currency receipts from the mining sector. Large segments of the population, especially those living in urban areas, continue to depend on humanitarian aid to meet basic food requirements. Unemployment remains a severe problem accounting for approximately one-fifth of the work force. Growth is expected to continue in 1994, but could falter if Albania becomes involved in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, workers' remittances from Greece are reduced, or foreign assistance declines.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $3.3 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 11% (1993)

National product per capita: $1,100 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 31% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 18% (1993 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.1 billion
expenditures: $1.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $70 million (1991 est.)

Exports: $70 million (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities: asphalt, metals and metallic ores, electricity, crude oil, vegetables, fruits, tobacco
partners: Italy, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary

Imports: $524 million (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities: machinery, consumer goods, grains
partners: Italy, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece

External debt: $724 million (1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate -10% (1993 est.); accounts for 16% of GDP (1993 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 1,690,000 kW
production: 5 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 1,520 kWh (1992)

Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing, lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

Agriculture: accounts for 55% of GDP; arable land per capita among lowest in Europe; 80% of arable land now in private hands; one-half of work force engaged in farming; produces wide range of temperate-zone crops and livestock

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route; limited opium production

Economic aid:
recipient: $190 million humanitarian aid; $94 million in loans/guarantees/credits

Currency: 1 lek (L) = 100 qintars
Exchange rates: leke (L) per US$1 - 99 (January 1994), 97 (January 1993), 50 (January 1992), 25 (September 1991)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Albania on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Albania Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Albania Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.