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OPINEWS

A response to the minister's (non)response

Politiko 2026-07-19 18:33:53

Lutfi Dervishi
There is a very simple way to understand if the economy is doing well.
You don't need either the Bank's formulas or the IMF reports. Just go to the supermarket.
If with your pension or salary you buy more bread, more eggs and more meat than a year ago, or 10 years ago, then you are better off. If you buy less, then something is wrong.
Dear Minister,
I asked you a few questions and I did not ask for a macroeconomics lecture.
Maybe even simpler questions will help you.
With today's pension (increased of course) do you buy more or less bread?
More or less eggs?
More or less meat?
After paying rent, energy and water, is there more or less money left in your pocket?
People do not live on the average salary, they live on their salary.
People do not pay their bills with percentages, nor in euros, but pay in lek.
Unlike your colleague Diella, people do not feed on graphs and figures, but on food.
You said that economics is a science. (Exact or social?) Okay, but economics is not just statistics. It is also purchasing power, it is also the cost of living, it is also the quality of people's lives.
I fear that there is something genetic in your party when it comes to figures. Enver Hoxha once said that "together with China" we are 700 million. Statistically he was not lying.
But the facts make you shiver even if you cover them with figures.
I trust statistics, - said Churchill, especially those that I have falsified myself.
Also, the famous figure of 140 euros that you mentioned did not become a problem because of Eurostat or INSTAT, but because it was used by a minister to talk about poverty. Citizens do not listen to the methodology, they listen to the minister.
There were many figures in your long response. One was missing. The number of “postbox” companies.
One more clarification, not just for you. I did not claim that the appreciation of the lek is explained only by informal money. I said that there are serious questions that require serious answers. The Bank of Albania itself admits that it cannot determine the origin of every euro that enters the market. That is where the questions begin.
Debates on Facebook are won with likes, shares and comments, political debates are won with rhetoric, but the debate about the economy is won somewhere else. At the supermarket checkout.
Because there the question is not: how much has the average salary increased, compared to 1938, but how much food do you get with your salary today.
There, no one pays with statistics.
They pay with lek. With the strong lek. So it is not bad to look more carefully at this strengthening of the lek and the weakening of the euro...