This demand has been addressed to any party or coalition that will be in power after the elections. The ministry in question is the ministry of Commerce and Industry, while the business sector has proposed to elect the head of this ministry. “The business community demands the ministry of Commerce and Enterprise to be part of the next governing cabinet. Its job is to draft trade policies, promote and support manufacturing activities and the process of negotiation for foreign trade”, said Luan Bregasi, representative of the Business Forum, which has 12 business organizations that represent different sectors in the economy. According to him, the head of this ministry must be proposed and discharged by the business sector.
“The forum is ready to contribute in the selection process and offer to the next prime minister three suitable candidacies coming from the business domain”, Bregasi added. This way, as a powerful stakeholder, the business community in the country is seeking to impose itself to politics in order to be part of the drafting of laws and incentives that relate to economy.
On the other hand, representatives of 12 business organizations also pointed out the fact that the economic programs which have been presented so far by political parties during this election campaign, are beyond reality. This is the reason why the voice of the business must be heard.
The reviewing of several taxes is the main demand of the business sector
The reviewing of several taxes which are currently being applied in the country remains the main demand articulated by the business sector that operates in our country ahead of the 25 June 2017 elections. So, the meeting held yesterday by the business community, stressed, first of all, the need to reduce Value Added Tax, which is currently at 20%. On the other hand, the business community is also demanding reduction of local government taxes.
“Moderate reduction of the level of VAT, progressive decrease for specific sectors and reviewing of local government taxes for manufacturing businesses, because they are very high”, was said yesterday by business representatives, adding that another important demand is the reduction of costs for farmers, claiming this way that the sector of agriculture will be assisted, a sector which has been at the focus of attention by politics during their electoral speeches.
Meanwhile, as far as the sector of tourism is concerned, after praising the reduction of Value Added Tax to 6%, they have also demanded for it to be applied as soon as possible. “Bylaws must be drafted, because June 6 should have seen the enactment of this bill and due to the technocrat ministers, this has not yet happened”, business representatives said. On the other hand, the representative of “Pashko” European University, Selami Xhepa, has confirmed that the governing programs of the three main parties do not guarantee the necessary instruments for an adequate economic growth, adding that tax policies are chaotic and that no program offers adequate support for the main two priorities, education and health.
“Reduction of tax on profit and other sources of incomes to no more than 12%, would be a real reduction of the tax burden”, he said.
Platform: A model should be built for the next 10-15 years
The business community has prepared a special economic platform to present it to politics.
The business community in Albania has drafted a special economic platform to present it to political forces during this election campaign. The scope of this platform is for politics to be driven by the needs of the economy, given that the latter occupies an important part of the programs and speeches delivered by the representatives of the main political parties during this election campaign.
This platform proposed by the Business Forum aims for sustainable economic development, which relies on the identification and analysis of capacities, potentials and the sources that our country has to offer. Meanwhile, another concrete proposal of this platform is the drafting of a model of economic development of the country for a period from 10 to 15 years in consultation with the business sector. And this should be done based on the capacities, potentials and the sources offered by our country. In turn, the political class should make sure that this platform receives broad political consensus formalized in the Parliament of Albania.
This platform also foresees a more competitive Albanian economy, bearing in mind its priority sectors, for which a number of facilitating legal, procedural and taxation packages should be drafted. In the end, another proposal is the improvement of the regulatory procedural framework through the identification of the entire list of procedures, which have a direct impact on the activity of enterprise and the start of reform in order to simplify them and improve business and investment environment through the intensification of communication and public consultation.
