Albania PM sees 4-5 pct 2010 GDP growth

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Tuesday he expects economic growth this year in the 4 to 5 percent range, roughly twice the amount predicted by the International Monetary Fund.
Berisha told Reuters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting growth was going to be strong because the feared impact of the Greek financial crisis has not taken a big bite out of revenues.

"(GDP) will be something between 4 and 5 percent, I think," Berisha said in an interview, noting that budget revenues are running at 99.6 percent of expectations.
He predicted a budget deficit of 3.2 percent for 2010 as revenues are running 13 percent ahead of last year. In July, the IMF raised its forecast for Albania's economic growth to 2.6 percent from an April estimate of 2.3 percent. At the time the IMF cautioned, however, that lower demand from Albania's trading partners and still heightened fragility and risks in the global financial system, which forced Albania this month to cancel its 400 million Eurobond, would linger for a while longer.

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