TIRANA, March 21/ATA/ 2024 budget envisages a significant increase in salaries, making it possible to achieve the government objective for an average salary level of 900 Euros per month within the year 2024.

Minister of Finance Ervin Mete made the statement in the Parliament today.

The minister emphasized that within the next month, the decisions will be detailed to specify the anticipated salary increase for public sector employees.

Minister Mete said that the economy had a very good performance during 2023 and that this good progress is continuing in the first months of 2024.

He said that inflation was lower than in the countries of the region or the average of the European Union, dropping to 2.6% in February.

“Public debt, a key indicator of the sustainability of public finances, fell below the 60% level of GDP, reaching 59.2% at the end of 2023, the lowest level since 2010. This improvement, in addition to reducing the cost of borrowing, increases the security of the country to cope with possible shocks in the future,” the minister further said.

“Significant improvement,” he added, “has also marked the pension scheme, where the contribution income reached 134 billion ALL in 2023, double the level at the beginning of the reform in 2015. Specifically, the deficit of the pension scheme has been reduced to 0.8% of GDP in 2023, which is the lowest level ever recorded, from 1.93% of GDP in 2015, when the pension reform began. ”

Also, in the 2024 budget, there will be carried out further indexation of pensions, as well as the distribution of the year-end bonus for 717 thousand pensioners.

The Education and Health sectors will continue to be financed at the level above the 3% of GDP. While for the Defense sector, for the first time, the objective related to the commitments made within NATO is reached, bringing the defense budget to 2% of GDP.