The government adds 92 million euros in debt to Albanians

The Albanian government has decided to increase the budget deficit this year by charging citizens another 92 million euros in debt for a total of 1 billion euros, according to a draft law on a normative act submitted to the Albanian Parliament.

The government says in the report that it needs to increase the budget deficit and public debt from the already high level due to some urgent expenses, including the purchase of Turkish-made drones by the Ministry of Defense as well as various investments, including investments for the so-called project. "Great Ring of Tirana", including current controversial projects due to huge costs and additional investments for water supply.

All of these costs will be financed by public debt as the government does not anticipate any increase in revenue.

"The changes proposed through this normative act do not affect the revenue, budget indicators which have not undergone changes ," the report said.

"… The increase of general budget expenditures in the amount of ALL 11.8 billion, increases to the same extent the budget deficit planned for 2021," the report reads.

The government plans to pay 1 billion lek in armaments to Turkey in a project declared a "priority".

According to the report, it is intended to finance "the priority project of the Ministry of Defense for the provision of drones worth 1 billion ALL, in the framework of the agreement with Turkey and measures to increase territorial control and national security as a whole."

There is no information on the qualities and capacities of the drones in question or the brand, but Interior Minister Bledi Çuçi visited the factory of the Turkish company Bayraktar, which produces drones of various types.

In the list of indebted expenses are also 900 million ALL to be transferred to the Municipality of Tirana for the National Theater project. The Municipality of Tirana itself and the government insisted for years that they had to give a concession to a private company as they did not have the money to finance the construction of a new theater, for which they have significantly changed their plan.

The report of the Council of Ministers is not very detailed regarding the rest of the money. About 3 billion ALL (25 million euros) is declared to be spent "for ongoing projects, development programs," without explaining what these development programs are, while 4.8 billion ALL will be spent for the North Ring of Tirana and for " The current projects of the Tirana Ring Road, which have advanced with the works on the budget plan approved for the budget year 2021. ”

There are currently three overpass projects under implementation in the Great Ring of Tirana, which includes the overpass system in the place called "Shqiponja".

About ALL 1 billion will be given to the National Agency for the Information Society for something that the report describes as "financing the needs for the maintenance of IT systems."

In total, this year's budget deficit is expected to reach nearly 1 billion euros, which are debts that Albanian citizens will have to pay over the coming decades. Reporter.al