TIRANA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The global rising energy prices and the Russia-Ukraine military conflict are gravely affecting Albania's economy and sending its food and energy prices rocketing, making the livelihood of its poor people much more difficult.
Gazmir Teta, 44, runs a small coffee bar in Elbasan, a city some 44 kilometers southeast of Albania's capital Tirana.
Gazmir, or Gazi as customers and friends call him, told Xinhua that he is struggling to cover the expenses because of the soaring prices in the country over the past months.
Gazi runs a 35-square-meter bar named "Ciao", meaning "hello" in Italian, together with his wife Armisa Teta and his brother Genti Teta, for over seven years in Elbasan where life is much quieter compared to Tirana.
For now, despite the rise in prices, he manages to keep his coffee price unchanged, Gazi told Xinhua.
"Elbasan is a poor town and if I raise the prices, I am afraid I will lose my loyal customers," Gazi said.
At 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday the outside tables of his coffee bar were almost full.
Armisa, 39, helps her husband in the bar where she prepares coffee and washes the glasses.
"We are happy that summer time is coming as we have more work in our coffee bar," she said.
Every year from April to October their coffee bar provides also ice-cream to customers.
"So far, we have increased only the ice-cream prices by around 20 percent," Gazi said.
The prices of dairy products including milk as well as other basket products for daily consumption have all increased in Albania.
However, in their bar, the prices of espresso or of the Italian style macchiato coffee stay at 60 Albanian lek ( 0.52 U.S. dollar) although the price of coffee in other bars in the city and across the country has risen by almost 20 percent since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine intensified.
A man named only Artan in his mid-60s, who is a loyal customer in Gazi's coffee bar, said that he is happy that the coffee price has not changed up to date.
"I drink coffee here twice a day for many years and I am happy Gazi has not changed the prices yet. Life is becoming very hard for us pensioners," Artan said.
According to Albania's central bank report in early May, the country's consumer price index increased in the first quarter to 4.4 percent. The prices are expected to remain high for the rest of the year.
Valbona Ballkoci, a 39-year-old single mother, who also lives in Elbasan with her teenage daughter, told Xinhua that she is unhappy to see that prices in the city have changed over the past months.
She said that in most of the city's supermarkets prices have increased, for instance, a 1-kg bag of flour has risen from 90 to 120 Albanian lek. The price of a one-liter bottle of sunflower oil has risen from 240 to 380 Albanian lek (from 2.11 to 3.34 U.S. dollars), whereas the price of a fresh 1.5-liter bottle of milk increased from 100 to 150 Albanian lek (from 0.88 to 1.32 U.S. dollars.)
Valbona, who works as a lecturer on economy at Elbasan University, said that this year she will need to reconsider her plans to travel abroad with her daughter for summer vacation due to the economic crisis.
"I have to cover myself all the expenses including the bank loan of 300 euros per month (around 316 U.S. dollars) and daily expenses which have increased significantly, so unfortunately I am thinking to review my plans on summer vacation and cut some extra expenses," Valbona said.
"This global crisis for sure will have a greater negative effect among poor economies and countries such as Albania," she added.
On May 19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Albania's gross domestic product is projected to increase by some 3 percent in 2022, supported by tourism and construction but moderated by the impact of rising prices.
"Inflation is expected to remain high in the following months before it slows down to the 3 percent target in early 2024," the IMF noted in an end-of-mission press release.
In March, the Albanian government introduced a set of measures to cope with the soaring prices in a bid to support pensioners and vulnerable groups, private and public sector employees and farmers.
Starting from April, the minimum monthly salary in Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, increased to 32,000 Albanian lek (around 281 U.S. dollars) from the current 30,000 Albanian lek (around 264 U.S. dollars). (1 U.S. dollar = 113.5 Albanian lek) ■
