AURORA SHPATAJ
The Democratic Party commenced the introduction of its economic program in late January, followed by the introduction of the programs on health, education and tourism. During this time, the authors have articulated differing figures regarding the financial costs required to realize such programs, thus raising many questions in the public opinion. “Faktoje” addressed 24 requests to the DP concerning the program, but we have yet to receive a reply. Experts in the field suggest that the DP should show transparency regarding the financial source of each promise made.
The premature commencement of the electoral campaign has prompted political parties to present their programs to the electorate.
On January 28th, 2021, the Democratic Party introduced its economic program. Next was the program on health, education and tourism.
During the public discourse, the key topic that aroused curiosity was the financial cost required to realize the program.
Upon learning about the said program during public presentations, “Faktoje” submitted 24 official requests for information to the DP, amongst which we inquired about the calculation of the financial cost for each stated promise and the relevant financial source.
As of the publication of this article, “Faktoje” has not received any reply to the submitted requests.
During this period, there have been consecutive public statements by the program’s authors regarding the total financial cost of the electoral promises.
Florion Mima, one of the authors of the DP’s economic program, during his appearance on ABC News, on January 28th, 2021, said:
“All of the measures presented here cost 500 million Euros to the State Budget, at a negative level. The forecast is 250 million Euros that will result from the extermination of corruption and the other 250 million will be a plus from the economic growth of the country.
The entire reconstructed expenditure costs, such as to increase doctors’ salaries, increase agriculture financing and so on, amount to approximately 250 million Euros.
On January 29th, Dorian Teliti, another program author, stated on A2CNN :
“The invoice of the program, of our budgetary undertakings, is less than 400 million Euros, 370-380 million.”
On January 29th, 2021 as well, during an interview on Report TV, JoridaTabaku stated:
“The promises in total cost approximately 450 million Euros.”
On January 29th, 2021, during an interview for E-Zone on Vizion Plus, when asked about the DP’s Program cost, Florion Mima said:
“There are two perspective to consider the effects, how much money will be lost by lowering taxes, securities, excise duties, etc., by removing part of the existing taxes and how much money will be needed for the additional programs on the expenditures side, for agriculture, pensions, education, health. According to our estimations, they amount to approximately 500 million dollars.
Appearing on Log, on ABC News, on February 1st, 2021, Teliti said:
“The moment we will lower taxes and improve the business climate, economic growth and formalization will follow. Therefore, by lowering the fiscal burden, we believe that according to the economic model and the statistical forecast we have conducted, they will somewhat balance each other. The issue lies with the undertakings. Our current undertakings, such as the ‘baby bonus’, the housing of 20 thousand couples, undertakings in education and health, in agriculture with 100 million Euros in subsidies, and so on, amount to a maximum of 370-380 million Euros. This is just in the first year.”
The former Democratic Party Member of Parliament Jorida Tabaku, on February 4th, stated that the budgetary cost of the DP’s Program amounts to 450-500 million Euros.
“Actually, the entirety of the undertakings of the Democratic Party amount to roughly 450-500 million Euros, also depending on the impact of several indicators and their implementation.”, said Mrs.Tabaku, one of the political program’s authors, during the show “Çim Peka Live” that she attended alongside Florion Mima.
Appearing on “Real Story”, on February 11th, 2021, Dorian Teliti said:
“The undertakings’ expenditures amount to approximately 400 million Euros”.
He added:
“The taxes, lowering of securities and taxation, etc., amount to 300 million Euros.”
In regards to the impact on taxes, he stated that it will be compensated.
“The lowering of taxes we have planned for constitutes just 8% of the State Budget’s revenues in its total and it is quite recoverable, obviously through the reforms that we will implement and the freeing of the economy.
The expenditures amount to 400 million Euros, 400 million Euros in the first year, 460 million Euros in the second year, 520 million Euros in the third year and nearly less than 600 million Euros in the fourth year”, Teliti said.
What do experts say about the DP’s program ‘costs’?
Based on the above statements that show figure irregularities, “Faktoje” requested the opinion of experts in the field of finance regarding the reality of such costs.
Experts said, “The lack of coherence of the financial costs in regards to time, items included in the cost and between the program authors, increases public skepticism and makes the program easily assailable.”
They suggest, “In order for it to become believable, the Democratic Party should disclose the financial cost of each promise, as well as the source where the money to realize each of them will be generated from.”
