How is Albania Attracting Foreign Investments?

TIRANA, February 13
The hitherto reforms were undertaken by the Albanian government and the strategic position of Albania as an entry gate to the Balkans and Eastern Europe are the reasons why the country attracted about 13 percent of foreign investments in the region. Foreign investments in the country during. Foreign investments in Albania during 2017 account for over one billion dollars and this figure is expected to increase during this year.
Currently, Albania has a new regulatory framework that focusses especially on attracting foreign investments and on spurring domestic capital investments.
The law on strategic investments that further strengthens judicial guarantees for investors includes two key novelties.
The first is related to judicial guarantees and ‘fast track’ instrument, which consists of a fast procedure by the public administration in support to investors that are granted permits and begin their investments.

Potential Sectors for Strategic Investments

• Energy and mining
• Transport, maritime, air, railway
• Infrastructure
• Electronic communication
• Urban Waste management
• Tourism
• Agriculture and fishery and they sub-sectors
• Technologic areas
• Industrial and technological parks

The criteria for the selection of strategic investments

According to the new legal definitions, strategic investments are private investments, public or public-private partnerships that have an impact on national economy and that are conducted by juridical persons, Albanians or international, or as a cooperation of Albanian and foreign juridical persons.
The criteria for defining public interest in the selection of strategic investment are:

• The investment value
• The time for delivering the investment
• The number of jobs that it will create
• Sectorial economic priority
• Regional economic development
• Development and improvement of standards for goods’ production
• New technologies for increasing competitiveness
• Improved life safety and quality for citizens
• Ensuring the protection of consumers and environment

Tax facilities for strategic investments in the tourism sector

The Albanian government adopted a fiscal package that will be implemented for strategic investments in the tourism sector, which is booming. Official data confirm more than Euro 1.5 billion income during 2017.
The new fiscal package says that as of January 1, 2018, all the new four and five-star hotels that will be constructed are going to benefit exemptions from the profit tax for ten years. Moreover, they will not pay infrastructure tax while the Value Added Tax (VAT) will be reduced to six percent.
News Source: ATA

Photo Credit: TAP