German businesses say that economic situation in Albania is worse than a year ago

“The current economic situation in Albania is worse than it was a year ago”, is the assessment made by at least one German business operating in Albania. This was the conclusion of a survey conducted by German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, which states that climate for business and investments in Albania needs to improve. “The level of optimism shown in responses given last year has declined”, the findings of this survey suggest. Meanwhile, half of German businesses or 51% of them have considered the current situation in Albania to be “worse” and only 13% of them have a positive opinion on it. German entrepreneurs seem to go even further with their negative forecasts about the performance of their activity in Albania.

“As far as the future situation in the country is concerned, 43% of respondents believe that the trend will be a negative one”, the survey states.

On the other hand, German businesses make a negative assessment about things which up until yesterday, were seen in a more positive way. Meanwhile, the things that they were asked about in this survey include labour cost, productivity and motivation of labour force, their skills, education and access to qualified labour force. “It looks like access to qualified labour force at a competitive cost, continues to attract and keep foreign investors in Albania”, German experts say, adding that a negative trend was seen in factors which have a direct impact on doing business including legislation, public administration, economic policies, transparency in public tenders and fight against crime and corruption. “For years, these have been the main factors that German businesses have considered to be problematic in the way business is done in Albania”, the survey also states.

Qualified labour force is leaving the country

German businesses have also complained about the current situation of emigration in Albania, which, according to them is causing losses in labour force. “43% of German businesses believe that the situation concerning labour force is critical/alarming”, the survey adds. Meanwhile, as far as the reasons that lead to this departure of labour force are concerned, around 70% of respondents believe that these reasons relate to the bad economic situation in the country and other problems such as healthcare or education system.