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Moody's approves of Albania's fiscal consolidation efforts

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Albania's continued fiscal consolidation efforts have helped to counterbalance its deteriorated fiscal strength, in keeping with the country's bid for membership in European Union (EU), Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday.

While Albania's EU candidacy has fostered progress in tackling corruption and advancing public sector reform, institutional convergence with EU standards remains protracted, said Evan Wohlmann, an assistant vice president-analyst at Moody's and author of the report.

"Nevertheless, we expect positive effects from EU integration, which has proven to be an important driver of foreign direct investment inflows among accession countries in the region," he added.

Albania's key credit challenges hinge on its high debt ratio, which Moody's expects to peak at over 73 percent in 2015, before declining to around 70 percent in 2016, according to reports by the Albanian Daily News newspaper.

The rating agency also notes positively the Albanian government's work with multilateral institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank. Endi