FLASH NEWS
Concession burden increased further in 2024, investments reached 27% of GDP, budget expenditures at the peak
2026-01-23 22:00:52 / EKONOMI&SOCIALE
The cumulative value of investments foreseen in concession contracts and public-private partnerships (PPP) in Albania reached a historic high in 2024, accounting for around 27% of Gross Domestic Product. This indicator marks an increase of around 2% compared to the previous year and confirms the increasing weight that concession/PPP projects have taken in the financing of public investments, according to a report published by the Ministry of Finance.
In total, by the end of 2024, 233 concession/PPP contracts have been approved in Albania. Of these, 176 contracts belong to the period 2004–2013, while 57 contracts were approved during the years 2014–2024, which translates into a decrease of about 67% in the number of contracts in the last decade. According to the report, this decrease is also related to legal and regulatory changes, especially after 2019, when the use of unsolicited proposals was significantly limited.
Regarding the way projects are initiated, only about 13% of contracts were proposed by contracting authorities through competitive procedures, while 87% were unsolicited proposals from private entities. However, with the legal changes of 2019, the acceptance of unsolicited proposals has been limited to specific sectors, such as ports, airports and energy.
From an institutional point of view, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy remains the dominant contracting authority, with 211 concession/PPP contracts, while the rest is distributed among line ministries and local self-government units. In terms of sectors, energy and transport hold the main weight in terms of investment value. The transport sector alone includes 27 contracts, with a total investment value of around 209 billion lek, while the environment sector counts 6 contracts worth 25.8 billion lek. In health, 4 contracts worth around 4.2 billion lek have been approved, while in other sectors – agriculture, fiscal control and urban development – 10 contracts worth 12.4 billion lek have been included.
In fiscal terms, the report highlights that the budgetary exposure from concessionary/PPP contracts remains within the limits of the fiscal rule. For 2024, budgetary payments for PPPs accounted for about 2.2% of the previous year's tax revenues, significantly below the maximum limit of 5%. Net annual payments made for budget-supported contracts reached about 13.29 billion lekë, the highest level ever.
Overall, the Ministry of Finance's report confirms that, although the pace of approval of new contracts has slowed in recent years, the financial weight of existing concession/PPP projects in the economy has continued to increase, reaching a record of 27% of GDP in 2024./ ekofin.al
Happening now...
If Sali Berisha wanted it, Edi Rama would fall tomorrow!
Nga Bato Kosova
ideas
top
Alfa recipes
TRENDING 
services
- POLICE129
- STREET POLICE126
- AMBULANCE112
- FIREFIGHTER128