Territorial reform tripled the local budget - Malaj: Municipalities, plans to repay obligations by July 20
The Minister of Finance announced today that the local budget has increased significantly after the start of the territorial reform in 2015, tripling by 2025. In 2015, the local budget was 35 billion lek, while in 2025 it is projected to reach 89.9 billion lek.
Likewise, unconditional transfers have increased from 12.3 billion lek in 2015 to 26.2 billion lek in 2025, an increase of 2.1 times. Infrastructure investments financed from municipalities' own revenues, he emphasized, have also increased from 8 billion lek in 2015 to about 17 billion lek in 2025, representing a tripling of them.
The Minister also highlighted the significant improvement in the performance of municipalities in local revenues. From 2015 to 2025, revenues have increased by 300 million euros, or 3.4 times more than in 2015. "In 2024, the largest share in local revenues will be the infrastructure impact tax with about 42%, followed by the building tax with about 13% and the cleaning fee with the same amount," Malaj stated.
Regarding local liabilities, Malaj said that a significant improvement has been recorded at the municipal level. According to him, the stock of liabilities has decreased by 74%, from 12.1 billion lek in 2015, to 3.2 billion lek in 2024. "The outstanding liabilities are mainly related to court decisions or investments and belong to the last two years," Malaj declared.
He also emphasized that municipalities facing financial difficulties must draft and approve plans for the repayment of arrears by July 20.
According to him, each plan must be approved by the relevant municipal council and then submitted to the Ministry of Finance, which will then monitor the implementation of the repayment of obligations within a 12-month period.
"Municipalities with financial difficulties must also prepare financial rehabilitation plans, which must also be approved by July 20 and submitted to the Ministry of Finance for comments and recommendations," said Malaj.
After the Ministry's assessment, he stressed, these plans will be passed on to the Treasury branches for follow-up and implementation. The Minister praised a number of municipalities for the results achieved in generating local revenues and investments.
The municipalities that have implemented over 70% of their approved budget, both in terms of revenues and investments, are: Tirana, Kamza, Durrës, Vlora, Elbasan and Shkodra. In this list, Malaj also included the municipality of Lezha, which has shown good performance especially in the implementation of investment projects.
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