Albania's 3.3 pct growth in 2017 creates 79,000 new jobs: central bank

TIRANA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Albania's 3.3 percent economic growth in 2017 created about 79,000 new jobs, Bank of Albania (BoA) Governor Gent Sejko said Tuesday before the Committee on Economy and Finance.

According to Sejko, the new jobs were mainly in the non-agricultural private sector, while the increase in employment in the services sector also had a major impact on growth, followed by the construction and trade sectors.

The new jobs lowered the unemployment rate from 14.2 percent at the end of 2016 to 13.4 percent at the end of 2017, Sejko said.

Moreover, the bank governor said the current account deficit dropped to an average of 6.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, compared to 7.6 percent in the previous year.

The improvement of this indicator reflected the growth of tourist activity and other business activities in Albania.

"Another positive indicator in 2017 was the inflation, which grew to 2.0 percent from 1.3 percent in 2016," Sejko said. Enditem