The foreign aid is defined as grants or loans that:
(a) are undertaken by the official sector,
(b) have as main objective the promotion of economic development and welfare,
(c) are at concessional financial terms (if a credit, having a grant element of at least 25%).
A grant is called a subsidy in the form of cash, given by a donor (government or organization) for a beneficiary who meets certain criteria, and that has no repayment conditions.
Concessional loans are loans that have lower interest rates or longer repayment periods and a grant element.
Bilateral donors are countries that provide grants or loans to another country. Multilateral donors are multilateral organizations that provide loans and grants given by donor countries.
Starting from the year 2000, the value of foreign aid to Albania has changed as shown in the following figure:
Source: “Foreign Aid to Albania” 2008 Progress Report, Department of Strategy and Foreign Aid Coordination, Council of Ministers
Comments and Analysis: ODA
As it can be seen from the figure, the value of grants and loans provided by donors to Albania in 2008 is EUR 240 million. A diminution of about 24% of the total foreign aid can be noticed in comparison with the previous year. For the period 2000 to 2008, the total foreign aid has been about EUR 2 858 million, of which 61% were grants and 39% were loans.
The key bilateral donors are: Republic of Italy, Federal Republic of Germany, Japan and the U.S. government, while the leading multilateral donors are: the European Commission and the World Bank. According to the amount of aid they provided, the following figure gives the ranking:
Source: “Foreign Aid to Albania” 2008 Progress Report, Department of Strategy and Foreign Aid Coordination, Council of Ministers
Comments and Analysis: ODA
In the last years, the foreign aid for different socio-economic sectors in Albania has changed as given in the following figure:
Source: “Foreign Aid to Albania” 2008 Progress Report, Department of Strategy and Foreign Aid Coordination, Council of Ministers
* Economic development includes agriculture, industry, trade, business / banking / finance and tourism.
Comments and Analysis: ODA
As it can be seen from the figure, in 2008 the most important part of foreign aid was given to the transportation sector (31%), secondly to the energy sector (14%) and in the third place to democratization and state of right (13%).
Contributed by: R.E