PM Edi Rama’s remarks at parliament’s plenary session:

Given that you claim to support your statements on data, I would be really grateful if you would actually guide and tell us where did you find the INSTAT data, since I have the INSTAT report and data here, confirming that Albania’s inflation rose 6.2% in April, whereas inflation in Serbia increased to 9.6%, 10.5% in North Macedonia, 11.2% in Kosovo and Montenegro, and 13.2% in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Albania’s inflation in May slightly increased to 6.7% from 6.2%, while inflation in North Macedonia surged to 11.9% from 10.5% in April. Other countries in the region are expected to release official data on the inflation in the coming days.

Is there any reason why Albania has almost half of the inflation rate as compared to other countries in the region? There could definitely be a reason for this.

There could be more reasons than the ones I note in the process of learning and citing here in this hall, yet there are at least two main reasons; first, the fact that it is only in Albania, like in no country in Europe, where the electricity price has remained unchanged at the pre-crisis rate.

Of course, the inflation rate has increased compared to a year ago, but we are focusing on the developments taking place each month since the crisis started. The prices of fruits subgroups recorded a 5.2% decrease. The prices of this group increased by 7.1% last year and so on and so forth. Where did you find this alleged 30% inflation rate? I am not claiming that the prices have decreased. This is not true, but I am speaking about the situation based on facts.

Mrs. Tabaku, you mentioned the Buna Bridge and I would like to really thank you for mentioning it, because it is an extremely important project for our tourism industry and for the shared area between Albania and Montenegro, where it takes one-km long bridge to avoid more than 70 kilometres of road to cross the two sides of the border and, not only that, but also create a very attractive source for investment projects on tourism and the economic regional synergies of that area.

However, work to construct the bridge is scheduled to kick off next February. In the meantime, the most controversial Kardhiq-Delvine road will open to traffic on July 2, whereas Vlora Bypass will open on July 9.

Now I would reply regarding another important issue touched by Mrs. Tabaku, namely the oil price.

It is true that the oil price in Albania is higher than in other countries in the region. This is true. However, unlike the other countries in the region, we have the lowest tax rates compared to other countries in the region as zero tax rates are applied on the small business! Zero income tax rate! Zero VAT rate for businesses with annual turnover of up to 100 million lek, and zero income tax on businesses with annual turnover of 140 million lek. This is because, unlike other countries in the region, Albania has applied higher tax rates on big businesses since we took office, but we provide 100% subsidy for the electricity, without allowing the electricity increase not only for all the households, but also for the small businesses. All these measures, unlike other countries in the region,  are translated into money  and unlike other countries in the region we provide money, and will continue to do, to all Albanians who do not drive off-road vehicles or private cars, but use the public transport.

Likewise, unlike other countries in the region, we will continue to provide oil subsidies to farmers and it was precisely today when we discussed the ways to increase the subsidized oil quantity so that registered farmers, which is good news because there is an exponential growth of formalization of farmers due to this need, we will continue to pay subsidies, because unlike the region, which has no fishing sector at all, we have a fishing industry that is constantly growing.

I repeat that at the end of the day that Albania has almost half of the inflation rate compared to the other countries in the region, because unlike the countries in the region we subsidize 100% of the energy difference in each household bill, because we have not yet made that division for those who consume 800 and 900 or kV and unlike any other country we subsidize 100% small business.