Page 85 - SE Outlook Regions 2024

Banka Kombetare Tregtare (BKT) is Albania’s largest bank by assets, followed by Credins Bank and Raiffeisen Bank Albania.
Sentiment on the Albanian banking market has improved, according to the latest CESEE Bank Lending Survey published by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
It finds that half of the cross-border banking groups active in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE) say they want to “selectively expand” in the region. Slovenia’s largest banking group NLB has already indicated an interest in expansion in Albania as well as Croatia, as outlined by the president of the bank’s board Blaz Brodnjak in November.
International banking groups surveyed in September 2023 said credit demand in Albania had stagnated, in line with the regional average, but forecast that strong demand conditions are expected to return in the next six months, more so than for the wider region.
Meanwhile, credit supply conditions continued to tighten, also in line with the regional trend and affected by increased monetary policy rates.
“Subsidiary banks in Albania are signalling that supply conditions will continue tightening over the next six months, especially for corporations,” the EIB report said.
The survey also found that non-performing loan (NPL) ratios remained unchanged for both corporate and retail segments, and are expected to improve going forward.
5.1.3 Industry
Albania has natural resources that include oil, gas, timber, bitumen, chrome and copper. Major players in the sector include mining and smelting company Albchrome Holding, which was taken over by Turkey’s Yildirim Group in 2022. Albchrome’s assets comprise the Bulqiza Mine, the Ferrochrome smelting plants in Burrel and Elbasan, and Vllahen Mining. Another key enterprise is Albanian Minerals, a New York-headquartered supplier of chrome and magnesium.
There is speculation that Albania’s copper resources could facilitate the creation of manufacturers supplying the growing electric vehicles (EV) sector.
Currently, unlike fellow Western Balkan countries such as North Macedonia and Serbia, Albania does not have a major automotive components sector. However, a World Bank comment says that with the
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