Konfindustria say that the entire fiscal policy followed by the government under the pressure of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund is failing.

Gjergj Buxhuku, president of Konfindustria, declare that this threat of failure is seen by the significant fall of incomes from taxation.

According to the data from state institutions, from January to February 2015, there was a 13% drop of incomes from tax on earnings, compared to the previous year and a 30% as opposed to projections.

“Bearing in mind the significant drop of incomes from tax on earnings for the first two months of 2015 in comparison to the previous year, we express our concern about the risk of the failure of all two year fiscal policies followed by the Albanian government under the pressure and agreement with the IMF”, Buxhuku says.

“These budget indicators clearly warn for the risk of the full failure of the IMF recipes, foreseen in the loan agreement of 2014 entered with the Albanian government”, he adds.

Konfindustria says that a significant part of the fall of budget incomes for the first months of 2015 has come as a direct result of the increase of tax burden reflected in two consecutive fiscal packages in 2014-15 for businesses and individuals, the 50% rise of tax on profits for businesses that have an annual turnover under/over 8 million ALL, the “de facto” passing from a simple 10% tax to a flat tax of 15%, etc.

Buxhuku says that “Konfindustria has long explained to the Albanian government the arguments for the risk on the state budget and the macro-economic stability of the policies of increasing tax, in circumstances when tax evasion amounts to half of GDP, bearing in mind the global crisis, weak fiscal control and a problematic judicial system.