Documenti
Tirana Gazeta Shqiptare in Albanian 19 June 97 p 1
Commentary by Andrea Stefani: "The World Bank Hides Albanians'
Poverty"
Albania is the poorest country in Europe. Its poverty remains, however, a state secret. In the six
years of transition, official sources cannot yet say how much money an Albanian needs to fulfill his
minimal monthly needs, that is, to survive in these hard times. International institutions like the
World Bank are making a special contribution to hiding some bitter truths of life from the people.
Undertaking economic reforms demands major sacrifices even without undergoing such a huge bankruptcy
as the moneylending foundations. Although the Albanian officials have accepted such an axiom, they
have always hidden, and we think for political reasons, the economic statistics that illustrate the
social dimensions of the sacrifices that the reform required. It has now been many years since such
statistics as the "minimal living standard," "life span," and "infant mortality" were published. Was
this not true also in the years of socialism when it was a sacrilege to mention the minimum living
standard of the "happy" people? When it came to some economic achievement that could be measured by
the yard, it was decked out to be kilometers long. Now we face the same phenomenon when the yard
becomes a kilometer. It is acceptable, but not justifiable, that irrespective of their new flags or
names, Albanian officials cannot easily get rid of the archaic forms of governance that sooner or
later become dominant in them. Such a situation becomes even more onerous when international
institutions like the World Bank become zealous collaborators to carry out such a political
censorship of the ruined economy. The World Bank drafted and was about to publish a study it had
conducted about the poverty threshold in Albania. Due to an order by the government, this study
remains secret to this day. Obedient World Bank staff, Albanian ones, since foreigners had left
prior to the eventual riots, shrug their shoulders and are unable to explain the mystery of the
Albanians' plight. In the face of this fact, the World Bank suddenly looks to us like some wedding
guests who cover an ugly bride with a nontransparent veil. Poverty has become today one of the most
tragic subjects of the Albanian reality that cannot be wiped out merely with party slogans and
promises. The ever-growing inflation rates and the continuous devaluation of the lek have outgrown
the official figure of the minimal living threshold for a family of four being equal to the social
assistance of 2,984 leks. Instead of ranking first on the list of subjects that party leaders
should speak about in the "senseless" and ferocious election campaign that is being conducted in
Albania, the subject of poverty and the struggle against it have been altogether forgotten and
ignored. Why does the World Bank keep such state secrets in Albania? Does not the crisis of the
moneylending pyramid schemes show that collaboration in hiding such truths is certain to produce
poison that is likely to intoxicate an entire society?...