Prime Minister Edi Rama’s communication via social platforms on new-born infant care policies:
We are here together with the Minister of Health and Social Welfare to announce a new government policy we consider a significant and considerable result yielded on the difficult yet indispensable path of the reforms.
The state-building reforms certainly involve obvious painful sacrifices. The truth is that this country’s ordinary people, in their overwhelming majority, have from the very beginning been aware of the indispensability of these reforms and the impossibility of keeping on pursuing the old path of chaos, anarchy, disorder and lack of rules. On the other hand, it also true that after a difficult phase of establishing some of the necessary basis for the country’s further development, people absolutely need to see some fruits and accomplishments.
It is important for us to never forget where we started from. It is important for us to consider every single minute the context we operate in, the context we work in and strive to do as much as we can do. But surely, after all, people rightly ask for more and the people never ask “how have you been, but how are you?”
I am very happy we have however been able to strike a balance between the austerity measures and the needed incentives in many aspects. With the removal of the flat tax only and introduction of a fair taxation system, we have ensured that around 57.3 billion lek, or 570.3 million dollars go to the individuals and households, government and private sector employees. Around 97.34% of public administration and private sector employees have benefited from the fair taxation system.
However, we are here today to talk about a new policy we want to launch and we are ready for because we can now afford it. This is good news. We are now ready thanks to the reforms we have carried out. We are ready because we have restored order in the public finance. We are ready because the state budget can now afford it, something that would have been unimaginable just few years ago as a result of an internal discussion on the proposed 2019 state budget, which, thanks to the reform efforts, will offer a series of positive elements.
The government will increase the salary of public school teachers, health workers and army members, who have seen a hike in their salary for years now.
The government will approve substantial tax relief for a significant and very active part of business, which will be classified as small business, because businesses with an annual turnover of $140 000 will no longer categorized as big businesses.
The most beautiful thing, in my view, is what we will do for new-born children in the Republic of Albania.
Back 2000, in my capacity as a the then Mayor of Tirana, I had launched the baby bonus of 50 000 lek that was widely welcomed at that time. But the baby bonus cash gift has remained unchanged since then and not only that, but it became a problem. Suffice to say that amid the mountain of arrears inherited from the previous government included also a five million-dollar debt in unpaid baby bonus. We settled it, just like we did with $700 million accumulated arrears, without which we would have kicked off many projects we started late and therefore nothing had changed in terms of this policy that has been included in the today’s agenda and it provides for the many-fold increase of the bonus cash gift to parents of every child due to be born as of next January 1.
From next January 1 and on, every couple will receive an eight-fold increase baby bonus of 400 000 lek for their first new-born child, a 16-fold increased cash gift of 80 000 lek for the second child and a 24-fold increased cash gift of 1.2 million lek for the third new-born infant.
The baby bonus cash gift will be made available for the parents of new-born children across the territory of the Republic of Albania and not only that. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is making preparations to ensure that each infant born in every maternity hospital across the territory of the country be registered there without having to undergo the complex procedures with the civil registry office. Each new-born child will be registered there and will instantly receive the welcome cheque as a direct support for the families that already encounter many financial issues and taking care of a newborn baby may also bring along more difficulties. That’s why, these families should feel a much stronger support they have enjoyed so far. The cash incentive is a move that according to our calculations will promote birth and encourage families to have more children. The cash assistance will be provided to every family all over the country.
We launched this kind of return of investment in reforms by introducing the initiative of providing textbooks to first to fourth grade schoolchildren for free and the initiative will further expand to the fifth graders next year and to entire primary education system within our second term in office.
Reforms won’t yield for our generation what we were denied over the years due to lack of reform efforts. However, these reforms will provide for our children and the future generations whatever we want and wish for them. Reforms are like painful medical treatment sessions with a longer-term effect than our endurance after years and years of waiting to have a deserved transformation in our country, but in the meantime we will be able to afford and do more and more for the families, parents and people of all ages.
We are currently discussing ways on building a delivery mechanism of this new baby cash gift that is eight times higher for the first child, 16 and 24 times higher for the subsequent second and third children. The same is the case about the fourth and fifth child and the baby bonus will be provided according to a scaled mechanism and the best possible formula we are discussing about.
The Minister of Health has a specific role to play in this process and it is her who has championed the efforts towards accomplishing this objective, of course by taking advantage of the new opportunities that are being created. The reform efforts are yielding new opportunities we were denied until today. Actually we are now finding out new opportunities at every step we take in all sectors. But, above all, we want to do more for the people and families, just like we are planning to do for the retired people and the families in need. We have allocated a considerable amount of state budget funding which will be provided to the most vulnerable social categories and the retired people in particular, who will be the first to enjoy the fruits of our reforms.
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I was looking at the public’s reactions on social networks. I believe that except live TV broadcasting, we are also live on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Gazmend was expressing one of the greatest concern over the baby bonus, saying he had not received the 50 000 lek cash gift even after two years after the birth of his infant.
It took two years to receive the baby bonus. It is a system working chaotically, since the baby bonus is delivered through the local government units, because the funding is allocated by the Ministry of Interior. This will change radically and the system will be simple, direct and quick. The process will no longer include transfers to the local government units and the funding earmarked for the new-born children will not be allocated for other things, but for the parents of the infants only. It will be a national baby bonus that will be delivered at real time according to the mechanism due to be in place soon. This is the best practice we have come across in other countries too.
Meanwhile, Gentian had a different approach. He suggested that “we should give up these Italianisms and instead show utmost caution since the country is borrowing a suffocating debt.”
Gentian, these are not Italianisms and I actually don’t know what you meant by this word, but it most likely that you are an Albanian citizen living and working in Italy and you are so Italianized you have already now started to deride the very country that has provided you the opportunity to learn another language too. This is a good practice applied in many countries, from Sweden to the neighbouring Greece. Our mechanism will be simple. Meanwhile, in terms of the amount of the baby bonus I can say we are well above the bottom ranking. We have decided to allocate a considerable amount of cash gift for the new-born infants and it is quite similar to the amount provided to parents in many developed European countries. The next challenge will be finding opportunities to extent the cash reward for more than a year, but this is another topic.
I would like to assure everyone that Albania is not suffocating under debt. Only few days ago, Albania has been listed in the international capital markets to issue a new Eurobond. I am pretty confident the operation will be successful, exactly because Albania is assessed as very healthy in the macroeconomic terms by the international markets, by the international rating agencies and international institutions and the country has ushered in a significant turning point of economic growth, despite the fact that – I reiterate – whenever speaking about economic growth, I always bear in mind that many families may become irritated by the fact that they cannot yet breathe freely because of very low salaries when they have a job, let alone the jobless people.
would like to add that in addition to an increased focus on all maternity hospitals and the transformation of the entire maternity services system in Albania, from regional maternity hospitals to the municipal ones, we expect by the end of this year to enhance the ambulance fleet with 32 new ambulances that will transform like never before the Emergency Service, which 4 years ago was simply inexistent. A problematic emergency service is in place today, but with the new ambulance fleet we will be able to deliver much more qualitative services tanks also to the Emergency Service Reform, which is today a Tirana-based National Emergency Service.
Ema writes about the economic aid. The minister will talk about economic assistance reform, but today we have a completely different picture regarding access to the economic assistance of those who deserve it. Over 10 thousand families who receive welfare benefit today were previously excluded because of a non-functioning scheme and a corrupt system.
Dafina says: “Provide a social welfare payment of 800 000 lek for the needy families.”
Why just 800 000? Why not a payment of 800 million for everyone?
It’s a pity that many speak this way, because what we do is exactly what is done in each family. These are the opportunities that determine our decisions, but we are working to increase these opportunities and afford much more. The social welfare benefit is certainly very low. However, it is three times higher than four years ago. We would have wished for the social welfare benefit to increase 30 times, but we need to keep on working, carry out more reforms, sacrifice and show patience in order to achieve such a goal.
Germany and Sweden, about which Alma says “you have no idea what Sweden is” – and I am really glad that Alma has learned in the process by living in Sweden, while I spend whole day with the man who served as the Prime Minister of Sweden for 10 years, and this is not a coincidence, Alma, that by discussing exactly this new policy, the former Swedish Prime Minister, the man who has reformed Sweden during a key moment for the country as he has also served as the Sweden’s finance minister for many years, told me exactly that the fact that Albania is able to afford this police now tells a lot about the country’s progress and the tomorrow’s guaranteed success.
To someone who claims that “10 000 lek, or 50 000 lek is a ridiculous amount of money,” I would tell him that he might have not paid enough attention. We are not talking about a 50 000 lek baby bonus that has been introduced since 2000, but we are suggesting a 400 000 cash gift for the first child, 800 000 lek for the second and 1.2 million lek for the third and subsequent new-born infants.
Meanwhile, to someone asking “how old the child should be in order to receive the bonus,” I want to tell him that the whole cash gift will be provided during the first year of an infant’s life. Whether the whole amount will be provided instantly or in various instalments, this is something we are discussing about since best practices in this respect include a gradual disbursement.
“What about the families with more than three children?” – Arlind asks. The answer is that the third, fourth, fifth and subsequent children are all subject to the 1.2 million lek baby bonus.
Verica asks: “Shouldn’t it be better if job placement is provided to the families benefiting under the social welfare scheme? “
Not only it would have been much better, but this is also our daily endeavour. More than 1100 individuals, who have been removed from the social assistance program, have been employed during the period from January through August period. It is a difficult and complex process which takes a lot of efforts since not everyone is ready to take up a job that is offered at a certain moment and on the other hand many of them lack the basic skills to take up a certain job. That’s why we offer paid training jobs and courses for all people included in the social economic assistance scheme. Things are moving in the right direction, but there is no doubt we are still too far from what we are seeking to accomplish.
“50 Albanian citizens have left Albania to go to Sweden,” Alma says again adding, “because of the fact that you (that means me) are a bourgeois dictator.”
Alma, first of all, the issue of the people who leave the country and return back home is a result of the freedom to travel. Albania is no longer Enver i Hoxha’s bunker. Albania is a free country and people fortunately enjoy the right to travel and move freely. If Albanian citizens ask for political asylum, the only reason for that is because Albania is not a European Union member yet and as such Albanians have no access to the free labour market. With regards to the number of citizens leaving the country, I can tell you that the number of Croatians leaving their country, which is a more developed EU member state, is higher than the number of Albanians leaving Albania. The figures on the number of citizens leaving Albania over the years are purely propagandistic. The number of those leaving the country is higher than the number of those returning back home. Of course, this is true. The come back and leave constantly. This is the time we live in. We are no longer a secluded country. Of course, there is no government, no power on earth that could make Albania like Germany today and provide them the opportunities Germany can provide and afford today. However, people come and go. This is for sure. Just like there are many Albanians who wish to leave and many others who want to stay here. After all, it is up to us to look forward and do whatever it takes to ensure that the future is much better than today, while today is much better than the past. This is indisputable. Of course, the today’s accomplishments are not adequate to compete anyone and nowhere in the developed countries of Europe. This is exactly because we are carrying out reforms that were not done over 20 or more years. This is exactly because today we are healing the wounds that were left to infect and degrade the whole body and organism of our society over 20 or so years.
To conclude, I would like to reiterate the reason why we are here today. We are here because the reforms are working. We are here because the reforms are gradually yielding new opportunities that allow us to continue to increase salaries in education and health systems, increase salaries for servicemen after so many years. The reforms allowed us to provide textbooks to primary schoolchildren for free. Our opportunities will keep growing along with reform efforts, hard work and sacrifices.
Should these reforms were carried out 20 years ago, we wouldn’t have had to hold such discussions today. Instead, today we would have been much closer to building the Albania we want and the ordinary people of this country deserve. It is exactly because we are increasing the opportunities, today is the day to return back to every new family, or to families that want to have more children, an investment they have made through sacrifices and painful reforms.
400 000 lek for the first new-born child.
800 000 lek for the second child.
1.2 million lek for the third infant.
Whoever shows up and tells us that such figures were imaginable until yesterday when the 50 000-lek baby bonus was not provided because the then government was plunged into debts, then he doesn’t know what he is talking about. I am sorry!
Thank you everyone!
Thank you the Facebook friends! Thank you Alma from Sweden. I wish you the best of luck and all the success!
Thank you my Instagram friends who are more efficient.
Thank you so much everyone!
