The Albanian government will put in auction within May of this year the tender for the Spitalla free economic zone, announced the Minister of Economic Development, Arben Ahmetaj during a meeting with German businessmen.
The establishment of free economic zones in Albania started as an ambitious project in 2008 by the then government with the aim to boost investments in the country but the project was not able to implement due to various proprietary issues. In 2008, the government approved the construction of 9 free economic zones, eight of which are industrial parks also known as business development zones and Spitalla is the only free economic zone.
Being aware of the importance of such project, the Council of Ministers approved a draft law on March of this year for the start of construction of free economic zones in the country.
Regarding the law, the Minister Ahmetaj declared: “The government has conducted the law of free economic zones and within a month we will announce an auction for the investors that want to invest in Spitalla’s free economic zone. The package that we have prepared is very competitive since during the first five years of activity, the income tax will not be applied inside the free economic zone, while in the second period of five years, the applied income tax will be halved.”
The Minister of Economic Development added that all the contributions of companies for their employers will be recognized doubly in terms of fiscal issues, a policy that will reduce company’s costs.
“Albania will establish one of the best free economic zones in Europe due to our close cooperation with the Harvard School International Center for Development regarding this project,” declared Ahmetaj.
The law on the free economic zones predicts that all merchandises which enter in a free economic zone are excluded from Customs obligations and VAT, facilities that will not be applied in industrial parks. In a free economic zone can enter all merchandises regardless of the origin, provenance or destination. All non Albanian merchandises that will be traded or processed in a free economic area will be excluded by VAT and other indirect taxes.
The industrial parks, known also as business developing areas, will not have these facilities in terms of taxes since they will be constructed by the state. In business developing areas, raw materials will be excluded from VAT and will not be applied the infrastructure tax and the real estate tax for the first five years. Companies can be excluded from an economic zone in cases when the company does not meet the criteria of the license it obtains.
News source/photo credits: Shqiptarja.com
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