Albania is an unicameral democracy. The People's Assembly (Kuvendi Popullor) consists of 140 seats, 100 of which are determined by direct popular vote. The remaining seats are distributed by proportional representation. All members serve 4-year terms. The President is the head of state and is elected by a three-fifths majority vote of all Assembly members. The President serves a term of 5 years with the right to one re-election.
Economy of Albania
Albania remains one of the poorest countries in Europe. Almost 60% of all workers are employed in the agricultural sector, although the construction and service industries have been expanding recently, the latter boosted significantly by ethnic Albanian tourists from throughout the Balkans. The GDP is comprised of agriculture (approximately 24%), industry (approximately 13%), service sector (approximately 39%), transport and communication (12%), construction (11%), and remittances from Albanian workers abroad - mostly in Greece and Italy (approximately 12.8%).
Albania was the last of the central and eastern European countries to embark upon democratic and free market reforms. Furthermore, Albania started from a comparatively disadvantaged position, due to previous ruler, Enver Hoxha's catastrophic economic policies. Transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-orientated system has been almost as difficult for Albania as during the country's communist period. The democratically elected government that assumed office in April 1992 launched an ambitious economic reform program and initially the results were very encouraging. In recent years the Albanian economy has improved, although infrastructure development and major reforms in areas such as tax collection, property laws, and for improving the business climate in general are proceeding slowly.
Foreign trade
Albania's trade imbalance is severe. In 2006, Albanian trade had € 2.3 billion f.o.b. in imports, and € 533 million f.o.b. in exports. Albania has concluded Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Macedonia, Croatia, UNMIK (Kosovo), Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia, and Moldova. In April 2006, these bilateral agreements were replaced by a multiregional agreement that entered into force in May 2007 and that is based on the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) model.
Foreign investment
Albania is trying to attract foreign investment and promote domestic investment, but significant impediments remain. The Albanian Government faces the daunting task of rationalizing and uniformly applying business laws, improving transparency in business procedures, restructuring the tax systems (including tax collection), reducing corruption in the bureaucracy, and resolving property ownership disputes.
Infrastructure and communication
Albania’s rail system is in need of considerable investment, particularly as there are no direct links with neighbouring countries and the total length of rail is 423 km only. Currently the major cities of the country are linked with first class national roads. The total length of the network equals 18,000 km, of which 5,400 km is paved. At the moment there is only one civilian airport.
Despite new investment in fixed telephony lines, the density of main lines remains the lowest in Europe with roughly seven lines per 100 people; however, cellular telephone use is widespread and generally effective. There are about 353,600 users of fixed line and 1.53 million users of mobile phones in 2005. Moreover there were 471,200 Internet users in 2006 and 852 hosts registered in 2007.
GENERAL DATA
Area: 28,748 sq km
Population: 3 134 982
Capital city: Tirana
Language: Albanian
Ethnic groups: Albanian 98.6%, Greek 1.2%, other 0.2% (2004)
Land boundaries: Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia
MACRO DATA
GDP (real growth): 5.8%
GDP (PPP): €16.2 billions
GDP per capita: €4,503
Inflation: 2.5%
Unemployment: 14.1%
Export: €533 million f.o.b.
Import: €2.3 billion f.o.b.
*2006 est. source: Albanian Institute of Statistics
USEFUL DATA
Currency: Lek (ALL)
Time zone: GMT +1
Area code: +355
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