The Reconstruction Fund: Budgeting and Consolidation Plan, 2020 – 2023, revisions in the State Budget

The Albanian Government’s Reconstruction Program, introduced in Brussels at the donors’ conference, held in February 2020, presented damages and the need for intervention in the amount of Euros 1.076 billion or (about ALL 131 billion at the February 2020 exchange rate). This figure was calculated by the Albanian Government as damages and the need for intervention after the Consequences of the Earthquake of November 26, 2019. The identified needs were, mainly, for Housing and Urban Infrastructure, Public Buildings, as well as Health and Education.

At the donors’ conference, the Albanian Government received promises of aid and credit worth of Euro 1.15 billion (or ALL 140 billion). For more elaborate details on the results of the Governments’ Assessment Report and the of the following Conference, Open Data Albania has published an article titled “International Financing for the Reconstruction of Damages and Losses resulting from the November 2019th Earthquake”.

In the fourth year after the so-called Disaster (March 2023), the Government and the Albanian State have Budgeted, Allocated and Consolidated a total of ALL 75 billion. Specifically, in 2020, 16.6 billion ALL were consolidated, in 2021 there are ALL 29.5 billion and in 2022 there are ALL 28.9 billion of expenses realized. The current year, 2023, has a Budgeted Plan for the Reconstruction Program in the amount of ALL 5 billion. Whereas, the Law on the 2023State Budget, in the Fiscal Indicators medium-term chart planning, table no. 4 Accompanying the Budget, clarifies the fact that 2023 is the last year in which planning and budget for this Program is foreseen. In the end, we can conlude that the Government is finalizing the budgeting of this Program at ALL 80 billion.

Meanwhile, evidences present in the Open Procurement Albania platform regarding the Reconstruction Program displays full information concerning 856 tenders conducted with a total tendered Estimated Fund of ALL 96.65 billion VAT excluded, of which those whose Winners have been announced were awarded contracts worth of a total of ALL 84 696 357 271 (ALL 84.69 billion), VAT excluded. More details can be accessed on the sections of the database dedicated to the Municipal Reconstruction and the Albanian Development Fund, ADF. The difference between Budgeted Value and the Tendered Value remains unclear in the context of a Budget Program, in which the State contracts and plans with a different Legal Basis from the Law on the State Budget and the Law on Public Procurement. The difference becomes greater if we deduct ALL 2.9 billion of the Reconstruction Program from the Budget disbursed directly to individuals for reconstruction of light damages in apartments and buildings.