Draft budget and fiscal package for 2016 approved

Tirana, December 20, 2015

The parliament members have officially approved the draft budget and the fiscal package for 2016 with 86 votes pro and the amendment for not changing the excise tax for local beers with 81 votes pro. The new tax schemes and the fiscal package will enter in force on January 1st, 2016.

The special seance for the approval of the draft budget was followed by discussions. The opposition party MPs accused the coalition in power for compiling a “budget of poverty” which abandons the economy of the country and does not provide enough benefits to citizens. The approved budget foresees that public expenses are predicted at the amount of ALL 452,125 million while state revenues are predicted to reach the amount of ALL 417, 694 million.

Since the first publication of the draft budget for 2016, the government has announced that during the upcoming year the deficit will be the lowest in years, only 2.2% of the GDP. The government is trying to decrease the deficit from 72.6% to 70.9% of the GDP by the end of 2016 and predicts an economic growth of 3.4% during 2016.

News source/photo credits: ATA