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Albanian Times, April 17, 1996From: Albanian Times <AlbaTimes@aol.com>The Albanian Times (by AlbAmerica TRade & Consulting International) DirectoryCONTENTS[1] Albania Eyes World Markets for New Capitals[2] Italian President to Visit Albania[3] Preliminary Hearing for Former Communist Officials[4] NATO Officials to Visit Albania[5] Subsidy Guidelines for Homeless Approved[6] Greece's Mytilineos Deal With Kosova's Trepca Going Strong[1] Albania Eyes World Markets for New CapitalsSOFIA, April 16 (Reuter) - Albania, which has Europe's poorest but fastest-growing economy, is courting the international investment community to fund its efforts at speeding up the transition to a western-style market system. Central bank governor Kristaq Luniku on Tuesday said Albania was hoping to receive an investment rating before the end of the year, enabling it to tap international markets for fresh capital. ``We are already in contact with some big international banks, he added.'' Albania's gross domestic product grew 13.4 percent last year, boosted by a strong uptick in private sector activity.The country last year reached agreement on rescheduling its estimated $500 million in foreign debt. ``That has helped us a lot. We're serving our old obligations now,'' said Luniku, who was in Sofia to attend the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's (EBRD) annual meeting. Direct foreign investment in Albania so far has been modest, totalling less than $100 million in the past two years. Most of the injections from abroad have come in the form of multilateral aid. The World Bank has given Albania about $240 million to upgrade its ailing infrastructure, and western nations have pledged as much as $1.3 billion over the coming three years for public investment. The EBRD itself has invested about 67 million Ecus ($83 million) in Albania to speed up infrastructure development and strengthen the financial sector. Luniku reiterated the central bank's aim to privatise Albania's banking sector with the participation of western partners. He said two of the country's handful of banks -- the National Commercial Bank and the Rural Commercial Bank -- will be fully privatised by the first half of next year. ``By the end of this year we are going to see some results. They will be fully privatised by the first half of 1997,'' he said, adding that Albania was willing to give foreigners full control over the banks. ``There is interest from some big banks in Europe,'' he said. Luniku admitted both banks were facing serious problems, but pledged they would not be bailed out by the government. ``They have solvency and liquidity problems. But they're not going to be given fresh capital before they're privatised,'' he said. The central bank chief said the exact amount of the bank's bad debts -- old credits to non-profitable farms and factories -- was still under examination. Albania, which in 1991 emerged from 50 years of stalinist isolation, set up its banking system in 1992 with the central bank acting as a supervisory body to the three domestic banks and the two joint ventures between domestic and foreign banks. At the time, the government spent about three billion leks to help the banks resolve their most pressing liquidity. (Courtesy of Reuters)
[2] Italian President to Visit AlbaniaROME, April 16 - Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro will arrive in Tirana Friday for an official visit, an announcement of the President's office said. Scalfaro is invited by his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha. (Albanian Times)
[3] Preliminary Hearing for Former Communist OfficialsTIRANA, April 16 - A preliminary hearing for 6 former communist officials opened Tuesday in Tirana. Prokop Murra, Muho Asllani, Gaqo Nesho, Foto Cami, Zef Loka and Dilaver Bengasi were arrested earlier this year under charges of crimes against humanity commited in complicity. They have been accused of illegal internments of innocent citizens while in power. Defendants Murra and Bengasi, citing health reasons, were not present at Tuesday's hearing and were represented by lawyers. All defence lawyers asked the court to separate charges against their clients, rejecting accusations of complicity. The court accepted some of the defence's requests and decided to resume on April 22. (Albanian Times)
[4] NATO Officials to Visit AlbaniaTIRANA, April 17 - A group of NATO high officials is expected to arrive in Albania Wednesday for talks with defense minister Safet Zhulali, Radio Tirana said. On their two day visit, the officials led by Major General Lange, Director of PFP Coordination Center, will review Albania's efforts to implement PFP and to reform its armed forces. Albania's 1996-98 PFP program comprises over 250 "important activities," the radio said. (Albanian Times)
[5] Subsidy Guidelines for Homeless ApprovedTIRANA, April 16 - Albanian government has approved guidelines to implement legislation benefiting homeless families. The specific amount for various homeless categories will be decided by nation's top financial bodies and institutions at the beginning of each year. The funds will be provided by the Savings Bank. Low income homeless citizens will benefit lower interest credits at rates from 0 to the annual inflation rate. (Albanian Times)
[6] Greece's Mytilineos Deal With Kosova's Trepca Going StrongATHENS, April 16 - Greek metals trader Mytilineos' two-year, $50 million contract with Kosova's Trepca mines for lead, zinc and silver output is progressing well with shipments of metals way ahead of schedule, the Tanjug news agency said. Under the two-year contract signed in December last year, Trepca mines will supply Mytilineos with 42,000 tons of lead, 8,400 tons of zinc and 50 tons of silver. Trepca is fulfiling its contractual obligations well ahead of time and will deliver the entire quantity of lead and zinc contracted for 1996 by September -- 18,000 tons of lead, 2,400 tons of zinc and 20 tons of silver. Trepca's output of lead and zinc is transported to Greece by train and ship and from there it is headed for markets in Egypt, Italy, Austria and France. The two firms are also looking into further cooperation in the field of accumulators, Tanjug said. (Albanian Times, Reuter)The material was reprinted with permission of AlbAmerica Trade & ConsultingInternational. For more information on ATCI and the Albanian Times, pleasewrite to AlbaTimes@aol.comCopyright (c) ATCI, 1996 |
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