Country Report Albania August 2009

Publication Date	August 2009
Publisher	EIU
Product Type	Report
Pages	30
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	EIU01691

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Summary

You may have noticed that since the second quarter of this year, some additional content has started to appear in your monthly and quarterly CRs. We are now including a country map, and a range of basic data (selected to be useful for business travellers in particular), in every country report. For most countries, except a few where data is in very short supply, we are also including comparative economic indicators that show each country's position relative to regional peers, in easy-to-read graphical format.

In addition, for 176 countries, the Country Reports will now include an annual analysis of each country's position in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, which ranks countries in terms of their level of democracy, based on five key categories. These analyses were published in the second quarter of this year (in the April country reports for countries covered on a monthly basis, and in the second-quarter reports for those covered on a quarterly basis). Furthermore, as a new feature for more than 150 countries, an analysis of each country's ranking in our unique Quality of Life index will be published on an annual basis starting in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Some of this content has been migrated over to the Country Reports from another product, the Country Profile, which has now been discontinued. The difficult decision to close the Country Profile reflected limited client demand for this service as well as our view that much of the content included in this report is now available for free elsewhere. We would appreciate any feedback that you have on the migration of content from the Country Profiles to the Country Reports.

This report covers the following industry codes:
SIC Code: 49;47;1;53;59;48
NAICS Code: 22;48;11;44;517

Content

Important changes to Country Reports
Summary
Basic data
Political structure
Economic structure: Annual indicators
Economic structure: Quarterly indicators
Economic structure: Comparative economic indicators
Outlook for 2009-10: Domestic politics
Outlook for 2009-10: International relations
Outlook for 2009-10: Policy trends
Outlook for 2009-10: Fiscal policy
Outlook for 2009-10: Monetary policy
Outlook for 2009-10: International assumptions
Outlook for 2009-10: Economic growth
Outlook for 2009-10: Inflation
Outlook for 2009-10: Exchange rates
Outlook for 2009-10: External sector
Outlook for 2009-10: Forecast summary
The political scene: The DPA wins the election, but fails to gain a majority
The political scene: Monitors note improvements and shortcomings in the poll
The political scene: The election campaign passes largely peacefully
The political scene: Mr Meta accepts an invitation to join the new government
The political scene: Mr Rama faces a barrage of criticism inside the SPA
The political scene: A former defence minister's trial is repeatedly postponed
The political scene: Albania fails to qualify for EU visa liberalisation
Economic policy: The election fuels the budget deficit
Economic policy: The deficit is financed through privatisations and loans
Economic policy: The government begins to rein in spending
Economic policy: The BoA urges the government to contain the deficit
Economic policy: The BoA keeps the policy interest rate at 5.75%
The domestic economy: Real GDP grows strongly in the first quarter
The domestic economy: Inflation remains low
The domestic economy: Deposits begin to stabilise, after earlier withdrawals
The domestic economy: Credit expansion slows sharply
The domestic economy: Inflows from migrants help to stabilise the lek
Foreign trade and payments: The trade deficit shrinks in the second quarter
Foreign trade and payments: Exports to Albania's main markets contract sharply
Foreign trade and payments: The first-quarter current-account deficit grows by 25%
Foreign trade and payments: FDI increases by one-half