Albanian budget revenue up 12% in January-August period

The Albanian state budget revenue during the period January-August 2014 totalled 236.3 billion leks (2.18 billion U.S. dollars), up 12.3 percent compared to the same period in 2013.
This revenue growth with about 12 percent, which exceeds the target set at the beginning of this year, enabled the government to review the budget and reallocate funds in support of priority policies.
Albanian Finance Ministry's statistics showed that the Value Added Tax (VAT) was the major contributor to the improvement of the efficiency of revenues, as it contributed to over 80 percent of the revenue growth from taxes and customs in total.
The profit tax, excise and the contributions from social and health insurance have contributed positively to the increase of the budget revenue.
According to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Finance for the period January-August 2014, the revenues raised from VAT accounted for about 82 billion leks, or 16.3 percent more than compared to the same period in 2013.
Revenue from profit tax totalled 13.9 billion leks, about 35 percent more than the same period in 2013. Revenue from excise accounted for 24.9 billion leks, marking an increase of about 6 percent. (1 U.S. dollar = 108 Albanian leks)