
With the recent changes in the normative act, the amount of capital investments remained at the level of 135 billion ALL or about 1.2 billion euros, but by the end of the 11-month period, only 53 percent of this value had been realized.
The government has allowed itself to spend 61.7 billion ALL or 600 million euros in just one month, or almost half of the annual investment plan, according to official data from the Ministry of Finance.
For 11 months, the government has spent 73.4 billion ALL and for just one month it will spend 61.7 billion ALL. Using half of the capital investment item in just 30 days calls into question the efficiency of spending and may create some macroeconomic imbalances, such as negative impacts on inflation.
The budget rule requires payment invoices to be issued on the basis of work situations, which are being paid massively in the last months of the year.
After the changes with two normative acts, currently the capital investments for this year amount to 136.6 billion lek from 123.9 billion lek that was the plan at the beginning of the year.
Budget payments in the last days of the year started to become more aggressive from 2021, where the Bank of Albania reported an unusual increase in business deposits in lek created by government payments.
Payments for public investments, pensioners' bonus and bonuses that are given at the end of the year even by the private sector favor the increase in inflation or, in the best case, prevent the reduction of rates of price growth.
While General Public Expenditures, for the eleven-month period of 2023, reached about 548.6 billion ALL, 156 billion ALL remain to be spent according to the plan in December, or about 23% of the budget. Compared to the same period of 2022, this item was 6.8 percent higher or about 34.9 billion ALL more.
In annual terms, general expenses for the 11-month period of 2023 were realized to the extent of 78.6 percent of the annual plan according to the initial budget and 77.7% of the annual plan according to Normative Act no. 5 dated 18.10.2023 (AN no. 5).
Current expenses for the 11-month period of 2023 resulted in approximately ALL 475 billion, while compared to the same period a year ago, this item was 11.3 percent higher or approximately ALL 48.3 billion more.