The Italian Economy Magazine has dedicated a detailed article to Albania and the advantages it offers to businesses and Europeans who want to live in Albania with a regular permit.
For more read for yourself the full article translated by Oculus News:
In the imagination of those who hear about Albania, without having visited it in the last 10 years, there is still the landing of the Vlora ship at the port of Bari on 8 August '91 in Italia and the "invasion" of 20 thousand Albanians in Italy.
After 30 years from that event, Albania has traveled, very quickly, a path that has led it to be a country with European standards and with an average economic growth of 5% of GDP in the last 10 years.
One of the most striking things about Albania is the welcome and hospitality reserved for Italians by the local inhabitants: petty crime is almost unknown, young people are educated to respect, the rules are respected and enforced on the street as in buses. FDI Investments, a division of the Financial Times, recently released a special report listing the top European destinations to invest in for the 2020-2021 period.
In one of these categories, we also the capital of Albania, Tirana.
"The economic and financial crisis that Italian companies have been facing for some years has made the issue of internationalization an extremely topical topic, says Roberto Laera, the Sole Director of the Italian Network Group, which for 15 years has supported hundreds of foreign companies in the internationalization in the Balkans, which sees Albania as the most affordable natural and geopolitical outlet for companies in Italy”. "Close to Italy and a natural bridge to the Balkans and Eastern Europe, continues Dr. Laera, Albania has a continuously growing economy, a young, dynamic and much cheaper labor market than in other developed countries.
Numerous European companies, pensioners, and workers have realized this, so much so that there are more than 3000 companies with Italian capital present in the land of eagles and about 20 thousand Italians passing through Albania. In general, an Italian company has numerous advantages such as a skilled workforce, tax on profits ranging from 0% to 15%, labor costs among the lowest in Eastern Europe, double taxation treaty with Italy, level of education above the EU average, Italian language spoken by a large part of the population, strong incentives from the IMF and ECB for business initiatives, the widespread presence of international and Italian banks (Banca Intesa Albania), a country in full economic boom with ample space for investments in various sectors. For the International Trade Center, Albania boasts the highest economic growth in Southeast Europe and the tax burden is among the lowest."
In addition to all these advantages, the Albanian government, to cope with the crisis that is hitting the whole world due to the pandemic, has put in place for 2021 a series of tax incentives for companies ranging from zero taxes on business profit for companies with a turnover of up to 14 million Lek (about 130 thousand euros), with the zeroing of VAT for companies with a turnover of up to 10 million lek (about 80 thousand euros).
These incentive policies are added to those already launched in recent years, to attract investments, which eliminate taxes in the hotel tourism sector for 4 and 5-star hotels, in the agro-food sector, in information technology, for '' entrepreneurship in agritourism, for agricultural cooperation companies, VAT reduced to 6% for accommodation and catering services within tourist facilities and agritourism businesses, in addition to the TOTAL exemption from VAT for imports of agricultural products and machinery, raw materials in the pharmaceutical industry, veterinary services, investments in solar energy (photovoltaics). Not to mention the funds put in place by international donors for the development of tourism and agri-food.
In April 2020, a tax and customs-free zone was also established in the industrial area of Elbasan, a few minutes from Tirana, in addition to the creation of a new free economic zone of 80 hectares in the Kashar district of Tirana, destined to technology companies with numerous advantages to companies that want to relocate.
But the advantages of moving to Albania are not reserved only for businesses.
In January 2020, the Government approved the de-taxation of pensions for all Albanian citizens residing abroad and for all citizens of the European Union who will move with a regular residence permit to Albania.