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Albanian businesses transfer profits abroad

Xinhua, June 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

Albanian businesses are transferring their profits outside of the country, rather than re-investing in their own economy, Albanian Daily News reported on Tuesday.

According to the Bank of Albania, 66 million euros (74.4 million U.S. dollars) have been transferred abroad over the past three months, about 24 million euros (27.1 million dollars) higher than that in the same period last year.

Experts said that economic stalemate in Albania, and insecurity of the Albanian business sector are factors behind the transfer.

According to the bank, the state budget has not benefitted from the outward transfer of profits, even though the government has increased the tax on dividends from 10 percent to 15 percent since Jan. 1, 2015.

The major companies that are paying dividends to shareholders in other countries are operating under double taxation agreements. This means that the taxes on these dividends are not going to the Albanian government, but to their destination country, the experts said.

The transfer of business profits abroad is a piece of bad news for the Albanian economy at a time when the country needs liquidity more than ever before. Endi