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Eurostat 2024: Prices in Albania are catching up with EU levels

Politiko 2025-06-18 15:07:03

Eurostat 2024: Prices in Albania are catching up with EU levels

Prices in Albania are rising very quickly, increasingly narrowing the gap with the EU. According to today's Eurostat data, the average price level in our country was 62.9 percent of the EU average, up from 58.2% in 2023 and 54.6 in 2022.

In just two years, Albania has narrowed the price gap with the EU average by 8.3 points. Albania also had stronger growth than the regional average. In 2024, Albania ranks first in the Region for high price levels compared to the EU average (62.9), surpassing Serbia (61.4), Bosnia and Herzegovina (59.7) and Montenegro (57.9), North Macedonia (49.6%) and approaching Croatia (73.3).

In 2022, Serbia had the highest average prices compared to the EU. Of the European countries, Turkey and North Macedonia had prices lower than the EU average. While Luxembourg and Denmark had the highest price level compared to the EU.

However, our country is still considered "cheaper" than the EU, as prices remain about 37% lower than the European average, but the difference is rapidly decreasing.

The strengthening of the domestic currency has had an impact. The domestic currency appreciated by about 15% against the euro. When purchases are calculated in euros, this increases the relative price level. In the domestic economy, although official inflation fell during 2023-24, it remained above target, especially in food and intermediate services.

Rising prices have weighed on the cost of living. Nominal wage growth has lagged behind the pace of price increases for many products. Albania remains cheaper than Mediterranean destinations in the EU, but the competitive advantage is shrinking as prices rise.

As the price challenge becomes stronger, our country must increase labor productivity in order to ensure convergence with the EU. Eurostat compares the price level (AIC = Actual individual Consumption, EU = 100) among 36 European countries. The index shows how expensive goods and services for daily consumption cost a family, after correcting for differences in purchasing power./ Monitor

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