Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at today’s plenary session of parliament:

I apologize for demanding to take the floor right now, but I am forced to do so because of the reception protocol and meeting with the visiting President of the Republic of Italy and therefore I have to be at the Prime Minister’s office. It is necessary to make best use of my time and highlight a fact that, in my view, is the one that matters most to the citizens and it is the fact that the government of Albania has decided to develop a medium-term support approach that is designed to affect 1.2 million individuals and businesses, because we believe it much more important to guarantee a medium-term security rather than adjusting to the crisis by resorting to short-term packages.

A number of countries in the region have recorded a two-digit inflation rate, but Albania has a lower inflation rate than the EU average. Why? This is because Albania is the only country, whose government has decided to embark on a path, the end of which will show whether such a decision is merely the reflection of a bold courage and ambition or it is the reflection of a tremendous madness by deciding not to increase the electricity price for the household consumers and the small businesses. In other words, the government will cover the difference of the cost and, for everyone to clearly understand since we are talking about covering the cost, I would like to tell the public that the electricity price rose to a record high price of 1040 euro megawatt/hour, whereas the pre-crisis energy prices ranged between 90, 100, 105, 120 euros. So, the electricity price is ten times higher.

Albania is forced to access the international market and purchase electricity and as soon as it is addressed to the international market to import electricity, Albania is affected by the price increase. The cost incurred to the state budget and the power generation utility because of the decision to maintain the electricity price unchanged for the household consumers and small businesses is estimated at 330 million euros to date. It is a total of 330 million euros. And our projections suggest that the figure can run much higher.

We are prepared to cope with it and we will do whatever it takes to deliver on this pledge. In the meantime, we will act and intervene through a re-indexation that is actually being applied for the first time in history, as pensions are indexed twice within a year. The latest pension indexation will enter into force immediately and it will become effective for all retired people starting next month. It is a direct indexation according to the inflation rate and the combined pension indexation with the earlier one we approved in April rises 9.3 %.

We will act through another very important intervention to support the families in need, by increasing the social assistance payment by 10% for this entire social category and doubling the social assistance payment for the female family heads with two children.

Further on, we will also index the disability benefit for people with disabilities by 7%, as well as the compensation for increased energy prices for blind people and the paraplegics.

Likewise, the government will announce a pay rise for two categories of employees, who haven’t seen their wages increasing for several years now, namely the State Police workers who saw a massive pay rise some years ago.

The Penitentiary Police members and the public administration employees will also have their monthly wages increased and the aim of the pay hike decision is to eliminate all the effects of the inflation and the rising prices of the basic food items.

In the meantime, the government will also allocate further financial support to cover the cost of excise-free oil for farmers. More than 34,000 farmers have benefited from the government’s tax-free oil scheme.

We have also allocated a special fund to support farmers for growing wheat on their land, a move that will boost the investing power in growing wheat, a commodity whose supplies are being questioned in the international markets, because of the Ukraine crisis.

In the meantime, given we are not altering the electricity price for the households consumers and businesses; we have set a power consumption ceiling. Around 96% of all electricity consumers use less than 800 kWh a month. Only 4% of them consume more than 800 kWh a month and these findings are based on facts and figures.

Every entity consuming more than 800 kWh will pay each kW consumed electricity at the market price, which means that they will no longer pay 9.5 9.5 for each kW, but 42 lek, which the real price today and the difference between the current tariff of 9.5 lek and the real price of 42 lek per kW for the consumers is covered by the state budget.

The good news is that despite whatever is said, the truth is that Albania has currently the lowest inflation rate in the region, where the inflation has jumped to a two-digit rate and this is because Albania is not applying power cuts.

For the second time in a year, we will again increase the minimum wage to 34,000 lek from a current level of 32,000 lek. When we took office, countless illegal constructions and high-rise buildings existed and were being built everywhere, with their additional underground and above floors. The number of the illegal constructions has been reduced in Tirana, it is not a high one, but such buildings are still there and you will see for yourself what we will be doing to tackle this problem in the coming days, with the builders having to either purchase their own illegal buildings at the real market price, paying in the meantime also a hefty price for their unauthorized structures. The money we will collect during this process will be allocated for compensation of the former landowners. Under the law, they will also have to donate their illegal buildings and it is only in these cases that they will see such buildings legalized. Otherwise they will face justice and have their buildings confiscated.

Second, homeless people and the ones expropriated because of public projects will benefit from housing in these illegally constructed structures, whereas the money collected from fines or purchase of these properties will be allocated for the Compensation Fund. This is going to happen and it will happen soon. This is going to happen in Tirana, in the coastal cities, where illegal structures have been built on beaches, and this will happen in the centres of every other city across the country.