Albania’s GDP saw a strong growth of 17.9% in the second quarter compared to the same period of 2020, as it recovered from the corona crisis and the initial lockdown of spring 2020. GDP also increased by 2.1% quarterly, according to the statistics office Instat.

Broken down by sectors of the economy, the largest contribution to annual GDP growth was industry, electricity and water, which added an additional 4.1 percentage points (pp), an additional 4.1 pp came from trade, transport, accommodation and food services and 3.4 pp from construction. The other sectors contributed less to the overall increase, with the exception of agriculture, forestry and fishing, which lowered the total by 0.19 pp.

Compared to 2Q20, the construction sector grew by 41.7%; industry, electricity and water by 39.9%; and trade, transport, accommodation and food services by 31.8%.

In monthly terms, the strongest growth was recorded in the construction sector, which grew by 9.1%, followed by industry, electricity and water with 6.8%. Again, agriculture, forestry and fishing were the only sectors to contract, by 0.2%.

According to the expenditure approach, the largest increase was recorded in international trade: exports of goods and services increased by 130.6%, while imports of goods and services increased by 53.6%, a indicated Instat.

Gross fixed capital formation increased by 35.7%, general government consumption by 11.0% and final household consumption (which represents a large share of the total economy) by 9.8%.

Bank of Albania Governor Gent Sejko said on September 28 that the economy was showing “clear recovery trends” in the first half of 2021, and the central bank forecast indicates a positive performance of the economy at medium term, according to a central bank statement.