Albania will raise the price of electricity for families and businesses in line with advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but it will protect the needy, Energy Minister Damian Gjiknuri said on Wednesday.
Fully reliant on water to produce electricity, Albania has seen its energy costs rise because drought, mismanagement and theft have forced it to import about half of its needs. Costly imports have become a risk to the state budget and growth.
According to Balkans.com, the year-old Socialist-led coalition government of Prime Minister Edi Rama, which signed a three-year support package with the IMF in February, approved on Wednesday a $150 million loan to overhaul the electricity sector.
"In every case, the government will protect consumers in need. This means that poor consumers, Albanian families in need, will not be affected by this reform in the energy sector," Gjiknuri told a news conference when asked about the price rise.
"Our goal is to have electricity at a better price and to have a steady supply of electricity because the financial gap in the energy sector has been covered by the state for several years," Gjiknuri said.