The teller and the monologuer

The government sees an Albania that is developing day by day. Protests are misunderstandings by those who do not understand development. Discontents are exaggerations. Businesses, perhaps, are not reading the successes correctly. Maybe corruption is just perception. Maybe bureaucracy is a modern form of efficiency. Maybe unfair competition is innovation. And maybe, in the end, all the problems that citizens and businesses report are simply noise that prevents us from hearing the good news.

Oh my, listen and understand!

Albania's economic growth has reached 8%. Per capita income has surpassed all countries in the region and has caught up with the European Union average. The average salary has reached 1,500 euros per month. Pensions are 700 euros.

The trade balance has moved into surplus, as exports, for the first time in history, have exceeded imports. We are ranked in the top 10 countries in the world for low corruption and according to the happiness index, so much so that we soon expect the country to have an influx of requests for immigrants and Albanian citizenship .

These are undoubtedly the news we would like to hear in foreign media such as the "Financial Times", "Reuters", or many others that have recently turned their attention to Albania as rarely before.

But, unfortunately, these are not news. They are wishes... long-term ones, even.

In reality, Albania is attracting the attention of the international media for entirely different reasons: for the ongoing protests, for the political tension, for the growing dissatisfaction.

The US Chamber of Commerce's Business Index this year marked the largest historical decline since measurements began in 2012, with 6.4 points. The domestic political climate, infrastructure, economic performance, government bureaucracy and corruption were the factors that hit business perceptions the hardest.

AmCham itself described the situation as an "alarm signal" for the country's investment climate and competitiveness.

Even more worrying is the fact that businesses perceive corruption at its highest level since the index began in 2012. When entrepreneurship, or more precisely the group of non-clientelist entrepreneurs who invest, employ, and bear a significant burden on the economy, reaches this conclusion, the problem can no longer be hidden behind macro statistics or optimistic statements.

Meanwhile, even the official economic growth of almost 4% paints a different reality. According to the latest data, about 72% of the contribution to economic growth came from public administration and net taxes, while real economic activities expanded by only 1.08%.

In other words, business is moving at its slowest pace in more than a decade, while the state is increasingly taking up space in producing economic growth.

These figures do not indicate that private business is powerless and the Government is showing itself to be a master at maintaining economic growth. On the contrary, this shows that the legal structure in the country and the government's orientations have resulted in an economy that is moving away from the features of a private free market economy and is increasingly transforming into a state economy towards centralization.

But perhaps the problem is in the perspective. The government sees an Albania that is developing day by day. The protests are misunderstandings by those who do not understand development. The dissatisfactions are exaggerations. Businesses, perhaps, are not reading the successes correctly.

Maybe corruption is just perception. Maybe bureaucracy is a modern form of efficiency.

Maybe unfair competition is innovation. And maybe, after all, all the problems that citizens and businesses report are just noise that gets in the way of hearing the good news.

But the economy doesn't work with slogans.

The economy runs on trust. And trust is not built by treating complaints as obstacles. It is not built by ignoring market signals. It is not built by insulting or labeling those who raise concerns.

The state and its representatives are elected by the sovereign. Precisely for this reason, they have an obligation to listen. To respond. To be transparent. To correct. To provide solutions, and even to consider other governance alternatives. Not to ignore, distort or ironize the concerns of citizens and businesses, or even to offend them.

In today's time, official propaganda and communication with one's own people cannot be in the format of a bullhorn. But today's times require something more than a bullhorn. They require institutions that listen as much as they speak.

The essence is meaningful and open dialogue. This dialogue has long since turned into a monologue that is heard and believed only by the monologuer. The part excluded from the dialogue protests or has reduced the level of trust, or has chosen to leave the country altogether./ Monitor