Suchergebnisse

The European integration process has, for more than two decades, represented a vital issue for Albania. This process has been evolving gradually and Albania is currently working towards receiving 'candidate country' status, subject to the fulfillment of key measures identified in the 2012 Albania Progress Report. This latest assessment is being carried out primarily according to the Copenhagen criteria: economic, political and acquis communautaire, those important for EU membership. Upon fulfillment and granting of candidate status, the next steps would be EMU and introduction of the euro. This is related to the Maastricht criteria fulfillment (convergence criteria) and would entail the following: price stability, exchange rate stability, fiscal criteria and long-term interest rate criteria. The main purpose of this paper is to consider how Albanian macroeconomic indicators comply with Maastricht criteria, and also to assess whether these indicators are methodologically harmonized and thus comparable to those of EU members. The paper also indicates the areas where progress is still needed in order to attain a favorable starting position for ERM II participation (after joining the EU). DOI:10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n9p44

The main purpose of this paper is to assess the size of the informal sector of the economy in Albania by using indirect approaches: national accounts discrepancies, simple currency ratio, electrical energy consumption and some evidence by the labor market developments. A few studies have attempted to estimate the size of the informal economy in Albania in the previous years and there's no evidence of recent estimates of informality (at least they are not publicly available), especially after 2007. Also, there are some other available studies which give some point assessments of informality in Albania but without information on its development over time. Using indirect measurement approaches we found that informality still accounts for a large share to GDP, but, differently from findings in other studies we found lower figures. This may be the result of vast reforms and a formalization process undertaken by the Albanian governments over time. Despite these results, it's important to highlight the fact that the average ratio of the informal sector of the economy to GDP presents a declining trend over the period 1996 – 2012. DOI:10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p212