PRESS RELEASE
Business Environment in Albania Survey Findings 2025
Tirana, November 5th, 2025: Today, FIAA presented findings of the 2025 FIAA Business Environment Survey Findings, which was conducted during August – October 2025 within FIAA members and foreign investors network in the country.
The results of the FIAA’s Survey, reaffirmed once more its longstanding commitment to monitoring and improving the country’s investment climate.
In his opening remarks, FIAA’s President Mr. Balazs Revesz expressed gratitude to the FIAA businesses for their collaboration and welcomed speakers such as Ms. Ritva Heikkinen, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation in Albania, and Mrs. Delina Ibrahimaj, Minister of Economy and Innovation, along with other distinguished guests and diplomatic representatives in Albania.
Main respondents of this Survey were important foreign businesses in Albania in the sectors of energy, mining, financial services, information and communication technologies, management and consulting services, manufacturing and industrial production, trade and logistics, etc.
The 2025 Survey findings on doing business climate were compared with the previous year’s findings. This year, the overall business climate perception is showing slight downfall change compared to the evaluation of the business climate during 2024.
Mr. Ivi Rexhepi, Expert at GRI Collective, while presenting the key findings, emphasized that the results reflected in FIAA’s surveys over the years have been steadily moving with ups and downs around the midline, although offering critical insights into specific elements of the business environment in Albania.
In this survey, foreign investors evaluate the current situation of Doing Business in Albania, with 45 out of 100 points, with a decrease of 4 points when compared to 2024 (49 points). When looking at expectations for the business climate in the future, a slightly decreased score is observed, 50 points out of 100, compared to 2024 (52 points out of 100).
From a global as well as national macroeconomic situation, foreign investors consider the continuous depreciation of Euro and its impact to their business, as well as the impact of the current high inflation rate as the two more severe issues with an impact in their business, however, with a significant decrease in the scale of evaluation compared to the 2024 survey.
When looking at the domestic factors, an increase of 6 points is observed in the corruption faced by business compared to last year, scoring 57 out 100 points. Meanwhile, the informality level faced by the different industry sectors has fallen by 5 points compared to 2024, scoring 61 out of 100 points. Order and Security is the most improved (36/100) dimension in this category with a 25 points improvement with respect to last year survey. Additionally, the survey respondents believe that the market is more competitive and fairer, a 13 points improvement is observed in 2025.
Whereas, the Albanian political climate sees an improvement of 6 points, to the extent of 43 points when compared to 49 in 2024, in the scale of evaluation. Albanian judiciary on the other hand, scores 56 points, with a slight increase of one point compared to 2024 in the same scale.
The energy supply section in the 2025 survey sees an overall improvement compared to 2024, with all dimensions not surpassing the midline in the scale of evaluation. Although a completely different situation emerges when assessing the tax system in the country, with only 2 dimensions, out of 9 evaluated, do not surpass the midline at the same scale; Specifically, the calculation of tax liabilities & related penalties in the system & its impact in the tax appeal process (38 points), VAT reimbursement process applied to your business in 2024 and the first half of 2025 (44 points).
Meanwhile, five out of nine dimensions are at the midline. Frequency of changes of the tax legislation and practice and its impact in your business (60 points) and Relevance and clarity of rulings/interpretations issued by tax authorities and their impact in your business (57 points) are the amongst the more problematic dimensions of the tax system.
When looking at relationships with Albanian Institutions, two out of five dimensions surpasses the midline in the scale of evaluation (Capacities of institutions, local or central, as well level of expertise of public officials, in performing their functions, with 56 points and Albanian public procurement system and procedures and their impact in your business with 52 points), there is a decrease in the overall performance in this regard, in almost all assessed dimensions.
The situation regarding the Labor Market in Albania is yet again among the least performing dimensions assessed by foreign investors, even though slightly less problematic than 2024. Looking at the increase of salaries in the country, a 3-point decrease is observed in comparison to 65 points in 2024. Meanwhile, the score for the access to local skilled/qualified labor and its impact in business, shows a slight decrease of 2 points compared to 74 points in 2024.
Foreign investors responded that they do not expect any major changes in the Albanian economy next year, scoring 56 points in a scale where 0 = Weaken Significantly and 100 = Improve Significantly. This is followed with slight optimism over business turnover, expected to increase in the extent of 60 points in a scale where 0 = Significantly Decrease and 100 = Significantly Increase.
In a new Section of questions in this year’ survey, the respondents demonstrate a high level of awareness and interest in the country’s EU integration process and related reforms. Nearly 4 out of 5 respondents are familiar with both the government’s reform agenda linked to the EU negotiation chapters (79%) and the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans (77%). Moreover, an overwhelming majority (98%) expressed a strong desire to gain deeper knowledge about the potential benefits these initiatives could bring to their businesses. When assessing the role of the EU Delegation in fostering a more favorable business environment, most respondents viewed it positively, with two-thirds rating it as either “positive” or “very positive,” while a smaller share (16%) felt that more could be done to enhance its impact.
For over 15 years, FIAA has consistently tracked core elements of Albania’s business climate, recognizing their fundamental role in shaping the country’s economic landscape. The Association highlighted the importance of sustained cooperation among businesses and most crucially, ongoing consultation with government institutions.
Foreign Investors Association of Albania
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