Improving Business Climate

Improving Business Climate

The climate of doing business in Albania is one of the main concerns that the International Monetary Fund has found in Albania.

The recently published report states that the government should take urgent measures to improve the situation.

According to International Monetary Fund experts, urgent action is needed to curtail the persistent arrears in the public sector.

Staff urged the authorities to ensure the full and timely payment of all validated new VAT refund requests, essentially cutting them from corresponding revenue flows.

Moreover, the IMF stresses that it is important to undertake measures to strengthen controls on investment projects so as to put an end to the overdue payments of government, especially those from the road funds.

According to the directory of taxation, in April of this year, the stock of debts reached 14.9 billion leke and it was promised that by July, this current month, the government would zero out these liabilities.

In its recent report on Albania, the International Monetary Fund once again reiterated the additional costs of administration and small business by incorporating it into the Value Added Tax scheme of last year.

Traders say the VAT has been set against them and has become an unmanageable cost due to the falling purchasing power, forcing many families to close their businesses while others are struggling to survive.

In April of 2018, the Albanian government introduced into VAT 13 thousand small businesses, by reducing the threshold for registration in this scheme for businesses with annual turnover from 5 million leke down to just 2 million leke.



EMISIONET