Economy - overview:

Poor and backward by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The government has taken measures to curb violent crime and to revive economic activity and trade. The economy is bolstered by remittances from abroad of $400-$600 million annually, mostly from Greece and Italy. Agriculture, which accounts for half of GDP, is held back because of frequent drought and the need to modernize equipment and consolidate small plots of land. Severe energy shortages are forcing small firms out of business, increasing unemployment, scaring off foreign investors, and spurring inflation. The government plans to boost energy imports to relieve the shortages.

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $14 billion (2002 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

5% (2002 est.)

GDP - per capita:

purchasing power parity - $4,500 (2002 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 49%; industry: 27%; services: 24% (2002 est.)

Population below poverty line:

30% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: NA%; highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

6% (2002 est.)

Labor force:

1.283 million (not including 352,000 emigrant workers and 261,000 domestically unemployed) (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture 50%, industry and services 50%

Unemployment rate:

17% officially; may be as high as 30% (2001 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $697 million; expenditures: $1.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $368 million (2002 est.)

Industries:

food processing, textiles and clothing; lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals, hydropower

Industrial production growth rate:

9% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:

5.289 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel: 2.9%; hydro: 97.1%; other: 0% (2001); nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:

5.898 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:

221 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:

1.2 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production:

5,952 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:

22,400 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:

NA (2001)

Oil - imports:

NA (2001)

Oil - proved reserves:

185.5 million bbl (January 2002 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

3.316 billion cu m (January 2002 est.)

Agriculture - products:

wheat, corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, sugar beets, grapes; meat, dairy products

Exports:

$340 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:

textiles and footwear; asphalt, metals and metallic ores, crude oil; vegetables, fruits, tobacco

Exports - partners:

Italy 71%, Greece 12%, Germany 7%, Yugoslavia 3% (2001)

Imports:

$1.5 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Imports - commodities:

machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, textiles, chemicals

Imports - partners:

Italy 32%, Greece 26%, Turkey 6%, Germany 6%, Bulgaria 2% (2001)

Debt - external:

$784 million (2000)

Economic aid - recipient:

ODA: $315 million (top donors were Italy, EU, Germany) (2000 est.)

Currency:

lek (ALL)

Currency code:

ALL

Exchange rates:

leke per US dollar - NA (2002), 143.485 (2001), 143.709 (2000), 137.691 (1999), 150.633 (1998)

Fiscal year:

calendar year

Telephones - main lines in use:

120,000 (2001)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

250,000 (2001)

Telephone system:

general assessment: Albania has the poorest telephone service in Europe with fewer than two telephones per 100 inhabitants; it is doubtful that every village has telephone service; domestic: obsolete wire system; no longer provides a telephone for every village; in 1992, following the fall of the Communist government, peasants cut the wire to about 1,000 villages and used it to build fences; international: inadequate; international traffic carried by microwave radio relay from the Tirana exchange to Italy and Greece

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 13, FM 4, shortwave 2 (2001)

Television broadcast stations:

3 (plus 58 repeaters) (2001)

Internet country code:

.al

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

10 (2001)

Internet users:

12,000 (2001)

Railways:

total: 447 km; standard gauge: 447 km 1.435-m gauge (2002)

Highways:

total: 18,000 km; paved: 5,400 km; unpaved: 12,600 km (1998 est.)

Waterways:

43 km; note: includes Albanian sections of Lake Scutari, Lake Ohrid, and Lake Prespa (1990)

Pipelines:

crude oil 196 km; petroleum products 55 km; natural gas 64 km (1996)

Ports and harbors:

Durres, Sarande, Shengjin, Vlore

Merchant marine:

total: 13 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 21,954 GRT/34,412 DWT; ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 11, roll on/roll off 1, includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Croatia 1, Honduras 1 (2002 est.)

Airports:

12 (2002)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 4; 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2002)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 8; 914 to 1,523 m: 2; under 914 m: 4 (2002); 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1; over 3,047 m: 1

Heliports:

1 (2002)