Deputy Prime Minister Albana Koçiu presented today the main details of the 2027 draft budget. In an interview with RTSH, Koçiu emphasized the social character of the budget, the easing of the fiscal package for citizens and businesses, as well as the measures taken for pensioners, newlyweds and students. The 2027 draft budget, which is expected to be sent to Parliament for approval, amounts to around 10 billion euros.
Deputy Prime Minister Koçiu stressed that figures are not an end in themselves, but rather how this budget translates into well-being, quality services, investment in critical infrastructure and fulfilling obligations for Albania’s European integration. “This is a budget that touches social protection widely, at all levels and all age groups within the family, from children to the elderly, without leaving aside students, newlyweds and those with social problems and special needs”, the deputy prime minister stressed.
Koçiu said the 2027 draft budget is founded on the philosophy that the Socialist Party has at the core of its governing agenda: those who earn more pay more. This philosophy, she said, the budget has tried to address through several highly targeted policies, with the reduction of VAT on basic grocery products, but also with an increase in VAT on some other products. “Those with higher salaries will be taxed more. This is to redistribute income and to direct support where it is needed, where the state budget’s financial support is required”, Koçiu said.
One of the points discussed in the 2027 fiscal package is the reduction of VAT to 6% for 54 basic grocery products. Giving a concrete example, Koçiu explained that “if a basic product costs 120 lekë today, with the VAT reduced to 6% it will go down to 106 lekë, so we are looking at savings of nearly 11.7%”. For the elderly, the government aims for the minimum pension to reach 40,000 lekë by 2029. Koçiu highlighted responsibility toward this category, considering it “a moral debt to the elderly.”
She pointed out that the budget will target doubling the monthly bonus given to pensioners. ”All full pensions, meaning those who have also completed their years of work, will see a doubling of the bonus. In cases where we are dealing with support of a 1,800 lekë bonus, it will rise to a 3,600 lekë monthly bonus”, she declared.
Koçiu added that this support will also apply to rural pensions, where the monthly bonus supplement will rise from 1,000 to 2,000 lekë. “Meanwhile, another novelty is that the indexation that used to happen every year, usually in October, this year pension indexation was carried out in July, and next year it will begin from April”, the deputy prime minister said. Koçiu also addressed the new policies for families and education, which include the “After School” program until 5:00 p.m., monthly financial support for children from birth to age 5, as well as 4,000 subsidized housing loans at 0% interest for amounts up to 60,000 euros. She stressed that students from economically disadvantaged families (around 5,400 beneficiaries) will see their monthly support increased from 10,000 lekë to 25,000 lekë.