TIRANA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The business climate in Albania has seen a deterioration in 2017 compared with the previous year, Albanian economy experts said Wednesday referring to data provided in the latest report of the World Bank "Doing Business 2018" published a day before.
In this report, Albania ranked the 65th, seven positions lost compared with the ranking of 58th among the 190 countries and regions last year.
The report mentioned difficulties in payment of taxes or construction permits and also the registration of properties, where Albania ranks 103rd.
It also noted the fact that power supply for businesses still remained a problem.
However, the report pointed out positive aspects of doing business in Albania, such as borrowing or the part that concerns labor market regulation.
"This means that throughout the last year, Albania has improved its business regulations, as captured by the Doing Business indicators in absolute terms, the country is narrowing the gap with the global regulatory frontier. It's a positive move," read the report.
Albanian government also sees the report as an acknowledgement of the reforms that have been done to improve the regulatory framework and other important laws as well as an encouragement to keep working in order to yield better results.
But Albanian opposition leader told reporters Wednesday that the World Bank report was another fact showing the worsening of business climate in Albania.
According to Lulzim Basha, leader of the Democratic Party of Albania, the main opposition party, investors who want to invest in the Balkans see Albania as their last choice.
He said the government's decision to increase taxes in 2018 would severely hit the economy.
