Albania's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by an annual 6.99% in the third quarter of 2021, after rising by 17.89% year-on-year in the previous three-month period, the country's office of statistics said on Thursday.

On a quarterly comparison basis, Albania's economy expanded by 0.73% in the July-September period of 2021, the statistical office, INSTAT, said in a quarterly report.

The sectors that mostly contributed to the country's economic growth in the third quarter of 2021 were trade, transport, accommodation and food services, industry, electricity and water, as well as public administration, education and health.

In the 9-month period, the country's economy grew by 10.37%, compared to a decrease of 5.87% in the same period of 2020. Economic growth exceeded the pre-crisis level, as in the 9 months of 2019 the growth was 2.87%.

The branches with the highest contribution to the economic growth were trade, transport, accommodation and food Service with 2.41 percentage points, industry, energy and water with 1.03 pps, public administration, education and health with 0.83 pps, financial and security activities with 0.60 pps, real estate activities with 0.41 pps, construction with 0.39 pps, information and communication with 0.24 pps, as well as agriculture, forestry and fisheries with 0.05 pps.

On the other hand, the economy was negatively affected by a 0.23 pps decrease in activities and administrative services. Net taxes on products contributed positively by 1.30 pps in the economic growth.

In 2020, Albania's GDP declined by about 3.31% due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to preliminary estimates released by INSTAT earlier this year.

According to the country’s Finance Minister Delina Ibrahimaj, the economic growth expected for 2021 is beyond any domestic or foreign forecast, at about 7.8% at the end of the year, a broad-based economic growth, which includes all sectors of the economy.

In October, the World Bank lifted its economic forecast for Albania's gross domestic product (GDP) to 7.2% in 2021, compared to 4.4% economic growth forecast for the country made in June.

On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Albania's economy to rebound to 7.8% growth in 2021 after last year's contraction of 4%.