Page 23 - bne IntelliNews Southeastern Europe Outlook 2025

demand. This led to a widening of the current account deficit to 7% of GDP, despite increased remittance inflows.
Rating agency Moody’s forecasts Albania’s real GDP growth to average 3.4% from 2024 to 2028, with productivity gains expected as labour shifts from agriculture to more productive sectors such as tourism.
The latest figures from statistics office INSTAT show Albania's GDP grew by 4.06% year on year in the second quarter of 2024.
Key contributors to the growth included trade, transport, accommodation, and food services and construction, each adding 1.12 percentage points (pp).
According to the World Bank, Albania's poverty levels have also seen improvements, declining by 1.9pp to 21.7% by the end of 2023. The labour market has shown positive dynamics, with the employment rate reaching 66.7% in late 2023, though there remain disparities, with men seeing slightly higher employment gains than women. Growth in wages, particularly in the private sector, has contributed to these improvements. Private sector wages increased by 12.7% in early 2024, according to a World Bank report.
The labour market also improved, with employment increasing and unemployment declining. However, Albania’s population continues to shrink due to high emigration rates. Census data from 2023 revealed a 14% population decline since 2011, reducing the working-age population.
2.1.2 Industrial production
Of the country’s main industrial products, Albania produced 891,400 tonnes of crude petroleum in 2023, while pig iron and steel output was estimated at 474,444 tonnes, according to INSTAT’s annual survey on industrial production and sales (PRODCOM). Chromium ores and concentrates totalled 822,206 tonnes, and cement production reached 2,176,865 tonnes.
The sales value of crude petroleum in 2023 amounted to ALL39.3bn (€392mn). Pig iron and steel generated ALL33.1bn in sales, while chromium ores and concentrates contributed ALL20.4. Sales of Portland cement and other hydraulic cements were valued at ALL19.4bn.
Non-alcoholic beverages and mineral and aerated waters recorded a sales value of ALL13.2bn, a 12.8% increase on the previous year.
In 2023, metallurgy represented 13.5% of the total sales value of industrial products, showing a decline from 15.2% in 2022. The
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