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Albania
ECONOMIC POLICY AND PERFORMANCE
Albania
ECONOMIC POLICY AND PERFORMANCE
Despite significant progress in the twentieth century,
Albania still lagged far behind the other European nations
economically. A unified economy did not exist before the
early
1920s, and the succession of foreign patrons had
punctuated the
country's erratic economic development since then.
Heavy-handed
domination by fascist Italy between 1925 and 1943 brought
Albania
scant economic progress. During its postwar rule of
forty-six
years, the Albania government turned first to Yugoslavia,
then to
the Soviet Union, and then to China for assistance in
imposing a
Stalinist economic system. Enver Hoxha and his protégés
used
economic policy primarily to maintain political power and
only
secondarily to stimulate growth. They insisted on rigid
centralization and forced industrialization despite
Albania's
small size and lack of skilled workers, able
administrators, and
farmers capable of producing key raw materials and enough
grain
to feed the population. Albania's leaders prescribed
autarky when
China shut off aid in 1978, but galloping population
growth and
lagging farm output rendered the policy and the regime
bankrupt.
Tiranë delayed radical economic reform until public
discontent
spilled onto the streets. By 1991, supply shortfalls had
paralyzed the entire system.
Data as of April 1992
