Revenue in the State Budget, January – April 2023, Level of Implementation

The State Budget collected 206.5 billion Albanian lekëë(ALL) in the first quarter of 2023, which is an increase of 9.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. The January-April 2023 quarter marked tax revenues amounting to 136 billion ALL, which is 7.4% higher than the same period a year ago, and 0.8% higher compared to the quarterly plan. Non-tax revenues experienced a decline…

The need for Electoral Reform. A Projection on the Distribution of 2025 MP Mandates based on the May 2023 votes shows defects in representation

Dear Ladies, Dear Gentlemen, AIS, the organization promoting Open Data Albania, has just published a Projection of how mandates for MPs would be distributed in the 2025 parliamentary elections, if the electoral subjects would run with the Current Electoral Code applied, and secure as many votes as in the May 14 Elections (votes for the representation of the Subjects in the Municipal Councils). This projection…

May 14, 2023, Election Results: Council Members by Political Subject and Municipality, Comparison with 2015 results

In the present article, we are laying out the number of Councilors in the Municipal Council, following the May 14th elections, based on how Electoral Subjects performed in each of country’s Municipalities. We have set out to identify which are the parties that achieved the majority in each council, winning more than 50% of council seats. Likewise, we will introduce the new structure of representation…

Tenders in the healthcare sector, 40% of procedures carry risk of clientelism, marked with a red flag

The apprehension, on corruption charges, of a senior official from the Ministry of Health coincides with grim developments in this sector’s public contracting AIS, through its Open Procurement Albania database – the Health category, has been monitoring all relevant procurement procedures for years, assessing and marking with a Red Flag (risk of irregularities and clientelism) several of them, which exhibited clear markers of abuse. Link…

51 Parties have benefited ALL 2.17 billion from Taxpayers in 10 years 2011-2022

AIS has just published an article on the Open Data Albania page showing the Public Money Value that Political Parties have received in 10 years. 2011 – 2022. The data provided in the article disclose public funding from taxpayers’ money distributed to (51) Beneficiary Parties1), by Year abd by type of funding, i.e. annual or electoral funding, etc. The reference used for each data is…

Debate and Policy Paper on “Financial Control of State-Owned Corporates” (Standards, Chapter 32 of EU Integration)

The organization AIS, promoter of Open Data Albania, organized on May 31st, a Debate and Presentation of a Policy Paper on the topic of Financial Control of State-Owned Corporates (SOC – State Owned Corporates). Financial Control, as in chapter 32, part of Cluster 1, in the process of fulfilling the conditions and standards for Integration. State Owned Enterprises or Companies are a risky sector in…

Projection of Mandate distribution for MPs in the 2025 elections based on data results for Subjects of the May 14 Electoral Process

The team of analysts at Open Data Albania has made a Projection of the allocation of Mandates in the Parliamentary Elections to be held in 2025. For this projection, we relied on the regional results of the electoral subjects for the municipal councils in the elections held on May 14, 2023. If the 2025 elections are held applying the same electoral system, with the same…

High Ranking State Officials’ Salary from April 2023, Prime Minister’s Salary against Other Budgetary Categories ratio

The Parliament of the Republic of Albania approved on 25.05.2023, the law that regulates the salaries of high ranking state officials, namely “On some changes in law no. 9584, dated 17.07.2006, “On Salaries, Remuneration and Structure of Constitutional Independent Institutions  and other independent Institutions, created by law”, as amended. The law was deposited in the Assembly on April 7, 2023, but on May 23, 2023,…

Cases Lost in Arbitration: Issues and Liabilities of the Albanian State, May 2022

In May 2022, the Albanian Government officially reported and recognized Liabilities, as a result of lost arbitration cases, in the amount of 175,857,595 Euros. The latter have been accumulated due to 15 Arbitration cases, in which our state has lost going against Business Parties. Sixty-three percent of the lost value belongs to one case, known as the Becchetti case. In two years, the actual liabilities…

Business Companies operating as Football Teams and co-owned by Municipalities, April 2023

This article will examine business companies that operate as football clubs, while are, simultaneously owned, fully or partially, by the Municipalities. For each of the companies we will also see their annual turnover, as well as the profit before tax. What we observe is that, the local football clubs companies, carry consistently financial losses and generally, are kept active through financing and subsidies from the…

Revenues and Profits made from Companies Operating as Audiovisual Media during 2021

Open Data Albania is looking into the revenues and profits made from business companies licensed as audiovisual media. The data presented in the research were obtained from the National Business Center (NBC) and include only statistics concerning companies  equipped with a Media License and an active NIPT. The numbers are presented in a well-structured format in the Open Corporates Albania database, in the media business…

The effects of Devaluation Foreign Currencies versus the National Currency, possible impacts on the economy, April 2023. History 2003 – 2023

The official Lek/Euro exchange rate reached a historic low of 110.98 Lek in April 2023. Similarly, the American dollar (USD) and the British pound (GBP) have reached historic low rates against the Lek, being exchanged at 100.46 Lek and 125.33 Lek, respectively. The strengthening of the lek against foreign currencies has a significant impact on the economy, both on consumer purchasing power and on government…

Unconditional Transfer for Local Government, State Budget 2014-2023, Election Year

Open Data Albania is disclosing detailed information regarding the value of the Unconditional Transfer granted by the Central Government – through the State Budget –  to Local Municipality Administration. The figures are being provided for a period that starts from 2014 to present day. In 2015, due to the then Territorial Reform, the country’s administrative division into Local Government Units changed. The changes were also…

DataThon Albania 2023 Youth Empowerment against Corruption

DataThon Albania, a data marathon, took place on April 3rd and 4th, 2023. Over two days, young participants collaborate to create a dataset, analyze, visualize, and present the data. AIS has previously organized events such as Hackathons, DataThons, or DiploHacks. This year, participants in the data marathon were young members of the OpenDataFellowship Network. The event aimed at Civic Education and empowering young people in…