The Albanian economy has had a good performance in the first months of the year, despite the situation created due to the crisis of rising prices and the war in Ukraine, Minister of Economy and Finance, Delina Ibrahimaj said on Friday.

In a press conference, the minister noted that the country’s economic growth for this year is expected to be 3.2%.

Ibrahimaj said that the indicators were analyzed last week with an IMF mission, which at the end of the visit reviewed the forecast for the country's economic growth from 2% to 3%.

"All indicators have been carefully analyzed over the past week with representatives of the IMF mission and at the end of the day has reached the result of revising the economic growth forecast to 3% from 2% which was the forecast of the previous revision," said Ibrahimaj.

Ibrahimaj said that the Ministry of Finance stands by its forecast for economic growth of 3.2%, based on current indicators.

According to Ibrahimaj, inflation for the 4-month period has an average rate of 4.9%, while in April it was 6.2%.

"If we refer to the monthly inflation figures, the difference between March and April, we have had a reduction in the growth rate. Monthly inflation in March for food products increased by 3.9%, while in April it was 1.1%. We have a slowdown in price growth, which is a positive signal in terms of inflation expectations during the year," she said.

Comparing it with the countries of the region, Ibrahimaj said that Albania continues to remain among the countries with the lowest inflation rates for both headline and food inflation.

Ibrahimaj said that positive indicators have appeared in both employment data and general labor market data. "Positive indicators have appeared in both employment data and general labor market data. The latest data we have on the business population, large and small, are those of March 2022. The number of jobs was 709,557, an increase of 12,979 more or 2% more compared to the same period of a year ago,” declared the minister.

Based on the administrative data of employment coming from the General Directorate of Taxes, Ibrahimaj said that it is predicted that for 2022 we will have a reduction of the unemployment rate and our forecast is at the level of 11.3%.

On the other hand, the Minister stressed that the average salary for the targeted categories, for those taxpayers who have been the focus of the Unit, has increased by 57%, so there has been a significant increase in the average salary.

"All these elements make us think that in the first quarter of 2022 there will be an increase in the average salary, which mainly comes as an effect of formalization," said Ibrahimaj.