In his weekly conversation with journalists the Chairman of the Socialist Party Edi Rama talked about the state of the economy and the latest report by the IMF on Albania. Rama declared that although the report was framed in a diplomatic language it nevertheless raised the alarm about the reality of the Albanian economy. In its report, Rama said, the IMF much in the same line with the concerns raised continually by the Socialist Party, talks of the structural weaknesses of the economy, about the public debt that is spiralling out of control, about the lack of room for fiscal policies that would assist the economy as well as about the impossibility of the government at asserting control over its fiscal policy. Rama added, that all the above constitute impossible challenges for the Berisha government since it suffers from to structural weaknesses that it cannot address: incompetence and greed.

“The case of Dritan Prifti who is enriching himself in illegal ways, and who at the same time holds the prime minister and the deputy prime minister hostage – although it must be said that Prifti also delivers while corrupt services to these two – in return for personal gain, sums up in one single frightening example the whole governing philosophy of this coalition made up of the incompetent and the greedy.

The case of Arben Imami, who at a strike of his pen throws away all that is left of the assets of the army into the whirlpool of Dritan Prifti, who can then deliver them accordingly to the family members and clients of those in power, constitutes an escalation of the incompetence and greed into never before seen levels. The IMF says that to date the government has not managed to lower its expenses, even when it had become clear that income was falling significantly. This is a serious wound that is getting deeper and is spreading day by day, and whose origins are to be found in the pre-electoral masquerade of last year, when expenses were incurred that went way beyond anything that the government could afford through its income. This is when the gaping whole was opened that is becoming more and more present in the lives of Albanian families with every passing day. How could income not fall when the whole scheme of the government is corrupt? Indeed, allow me to point out that, were it not for the fact that the government is skining Albanian businesses through scandalous, arbitrary and mafia-style fines, incomes would be lower still.”

Rama also severely criticised the public debt incurred by the government which he said constituutes a serious threat to Albania’s fiscal consolidation and to the macro-economic stability of the country as a whole. “

In fact the government has subcontracted public debt. It has found an original solution, much in the same vein as it once did with the pyramids, in order to dump the responsibility for the debt and financial obligations on third parties. Medium term debt has been dumped on Albanian businesses who were contracted by the state but who are not getting paid because the state declares that “you can keep it because I am out of money.” Longterm debt has been dumped on the Albanian people and especially on the children of this country. This may seem stable, but philosophically speaking this is the very same course of action that led to the construction and the ruin of the financial pyramids.

Asked about the law on SHISH and on whether the SP will join votes with the Socialist Movement for Integration who has expressed its opposition to the law, Rama declared that the SP will not join votes with anybody but will vote against the law because it goes agains the interests of Albania and its strategic partners NATO and the US ... read more