Data from the World Health Organization and studies from other institutions have confirmed that Albania has the lowest level of medical staff in the country in relation to the population, but despite this Albania has received the lowest amount of funds that the European Union has made available to the Western Balkans countries to cope with the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to data from the Regional Cooperation Council, the EU has allocated a fund of EUR 411 million to the 6 countries of the Region, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania to address the health emergency caused by the coronavirus, as well as to assist in the economic recovery of the Region.
As can be seen from the attached graph, Albania has benefited the lowest value of funds, only EUR 50.7 million, while Serbia has taken the highest value of funds, EUR 93.4 million.
Montenegro, which has a population of less than a third of Albania and is less affected by the pandemic, has received more funding from EU aid. As a result of the pandemic, the Region will face a contraction of the economy from -9.0 to -3.0% in 2020 and a slow recovery.
The hardest hit sector is tourism, which accounts for about 10.2 percent of the region’s GDP. Historically, Albania has had low ability to attract funds and assistance provided by donors through various programs for developing countries.
But this is becoming more apparent in the last two years where donations due to the November 26, 2019 earthquake and the Covid-19 pandemic, have increased, but in fact the funds are proving to be much lower than promised./abcnews.al
