The Albanian economy has shrunk sharply in the first quarter of this year. The end of 2019 and the pandemic seem to have given the first negative effects on the economy. The closure of businesses during the second half of March has caused a shock in almost all sectors of the economy.
INSTAT has published that data showing that the Albanian economy declined by 2.52%. In the second quarter, the situation is expected to be even deeper as economic activity has been suspended. Only agriculture seems to have positive results and if we compare it with the same period a year ago there has been an increase of 3.41%.
Meanwhile, the construction activity results in the strongest decrease if we compare it with the same period of the previous year with 16.66% followed by the extractive industry which has decreased by 13.31%.
According to INSTAT, the group of professional activities and administrative services such as Financial and Security activity also had a suspension of activity.
Also during this period, it turns out that there has been a slowdown in consumption, while exports of goods and services decreased by 2.13%.
International estimates predict that the pandemic will affect a contraction of the economy which will range from 5% to 9%./abcnews.al
