Elton Haxhi, the former Deputy Minister of Finance, was invited to A2 Business and spoke about the allocation of 1 billion lek to municipalities with a special transfer to pay off debts, claiming that this demonstrates the municipalities’ acute financial troubles.
“There are reasons behind this choice that we do not know about; they could be electoral or technical in nature, but we cannot judge them. I believe that the central government only pays off arrears in circumstances where municipalities are in serious financial trouble.
This is the most serious category of the local government’s financial status. This means they have met the requirements, which are that their commitments must be more than 30 days late and account for at least 80% of the total yearly projected expenses. I’m not sure if these communities have completed these requirements, but this financing is only available in these circumstances “Haxhi stated.