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Banks, growing "appetite" to finance important PPP projects in infrastructure

2026-08-24 10:36:45Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Banks, growing "appetite" to finance important PPP projects in

Over the past few years, the banking sector in the country has shown a growing "appetite" to finance important PPP projects in infrastructure.

In 2025, Tirana Bank signed a loan contract of 17 million euros with the company "Marina Vlorë", which is implementing the concession project to build a yacht port in Vlorë, attached to a residential and hotel complex, according to a model similar to the one being built in the Port of Durrës.

At the end of 2023, three Albanian commercial banks decided to finance with a joint (syndicated) loan the Public-Private Partnership project for the construction of the Thumanë-Kashar road.

The American Investment Bank, Tirana Bank and Union Bank financed the construction of the Thumanë-Kashar road with more than 30 million euros.

In 2021, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania, OTP Albania and Tirana Bank financed a joint loan of 26 million euros to the concessionaire company "Orikum-Llogora".

The most important publicly funded PPP project in road construction is the Arbri Road. This project was supported with a significant loan from the National Commercial Bank (BKT).

In August 2018, BKT approved a loan of up to 9.5 billion lek to the company "Gjoka 87", however, in fact it has not been disbursed up to the maximum amount foreseen.

According to the financial statements of "Gjoka 87", the maximum liability to the bank has reached 4.4 billion lek in 2022.

In 2017, BKT also approved a loan of 28.5 million euros to "Albania Highway Concession", the company that is implementing the concession contract for the completion and maintenance of the National Road.

In the case of PPPs, the Albanian government does not provide sovereign guarantees, so banks must assume the credit risk themselves. Despite this, the banking sector has provided significant financing for PPP infrastructure projects.

The Bank of Albania facilitated lending to PPPs in infrastructure

The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania approved several regulatory changes last year, which facilitate the granting of loans by commercial banks for strategic infrastructure projects.

The changes were proposed by the Albanian Banking Association and were approved by the Central Bank.

According to the regulation, projects in strategic transport infrastructure will be considered financing of projects in the form of construction of a new infrastructure, or of an existing infrastructure, in the fields of road transport and port and airport infrastructure and where the commercial company has a contract or agreement with the relevant state institution.

Banks now weight exposures to commercial companies that finance projects in strategic transport infrastructure with a 50% risk weight (previously these loans were weighted with a 100% risk weight), if the conditions provided for in the regulation are met.

Such an action makes granting loans of this type less costly in terms of capitalization and expands the scope of banks to finance projects of this type.

In general, loans for road infrastructure projects affect large amounts, so they also have a significant impact on the capital adequacy ratio, which measures the ratio between risk-weighted assets and regulatory capital.

A new article has been added to the regulation "On the capital adequacy ratio", which stipulates that banks identify separately from the class of exposures to commercial companies, exposures to commercial companies that finance projects in strategic transport infrastructure, which meet certain specific conditions.

The amended regulation establishes as a condition that the final beneficiary of the financed project be the Albanian government.

The loan must have a maturity of up to 10 years and the loan contract for the exposure in question must provide the bank with a high level of control over the project assets and the income generated from it.

The source of loan repayment must consist at least two-thirds of the income generated by the financed project. Another criterion is the borrower's estimated ability to meet its financial obligations, even under severe stress conditions related to the risk of the financed project.

The provisions of the new regulation will apply to all exposures to commercial companies financing strategic transport infrastructure projects, which will be established by December 31, 2026, and will be applicable until the approved financing term, which in any case should not exceed 10 years.

For the same purpose, the Bank of Albania has also approved several amendments to the regulation "On the management of risk from large exposures of banks".

In this regulation, a provision has been added that stipulates that banks, in calculating maximum permissible exposures, exclude, among other things, exposures, with no more than 50% of their value, to commercial companies that finance projects in strategic transport infrastructure. (Monitor)


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