The first qualitative survey on Albanian firms: preliminary results

The Banks&Businesses Regional Observatory on Economy and Finance (OBI) and the University of Tirana carried on the first qualitative survey on Albanian enterprises between July and September 2008. The main advantages of qualitative surveys are that they are able to catch the “business climate”; are very timely and quite inexpensive; are more robust against misreporting than traditional surveys. A number of statistical techniques allow converting the results of qualitative surveys in quantitative indicators. In general, the survey was a successful experiment that shed some light on the structure and dynamics of the Albanian economy. In particular, the survey confirmed that Italy and Apulia are among the most interesting markets for the Albanian firms, and vice versa, also thanks to subcontracting agreements. Also, many Albanian firms declared to compete with Italian firms on the same markets. The majority of respondents seem to have balanced and “modern” relationships with the bank system, even though the local small Albanian banks seem to be unable to follow the fast evolution of the most dynamic firms. This fact suggests the need for restructuring the Albanian credit sector. The survey confirmed that Albanian economy is fast growing, and that entrepreneurs are more optimistic about the future, compared to their European counterparts, at least just before the worsening of the ongoing world financial crisis. In any case, a number of firms complained for some credit restriction. Finally, the network of interviewers and respondents established during the survey can be exploited in the next years to gather timely information on the evolution of the Albanian economy during 2008 summer.