Andrea Stefani of the Tirana daily " Gazeta Shqiptare", rises in the 19 June 1997 issue of this newspaper the question why the World Bank participated, together with Albanian officials, in presenting the Albanian economic situation in a better light than it was.
Albania is the poorest country in Europe, but the poverty issue is still treated like a state secret within Albania. In the sixth year of the transition, Albanian government officials still have not declared what the minimal monthly costs of living are for an Albanian. A special contribution with respect to this distortion of reality and the obscuring of the truth has been made by international institutions and the World Bank in particular.
The economic reform itself, even before considering the collapse of the pyramid schemes, is known to be costly, particularly socially. Although this is acknowledged by the Government, for political reasons no data is given on its social costs. During these years, indicators such as minimal standard of living and mortality rate have never been declared publicly. The Government appears to operate with the same rationale of the socialist regime during which any declaration of data on the living conditions of `the happy people of Albania' was considered a sacrilege. On the contrary, any step forward was amplified into kilometres. In the present context, our politicians, independent of titles and banners, strongly hold to the archaic mentality, degenerating their governance into reign.
What is surprising is the fact that World Bank officials are collaborating in the censorship policies. To be more concrete, in January 1997, World Bank office in Tirana was prepared to publish a study on the issue of poverty, and its alleviation. The Albanian Government opposed this initiative and the report data never saw the light of publication. Considering the situation, one question can be raised: What was the effort on the part of the World Bank to veil or unveil the ugly bride? World Bank staff, foreigners advisors and Albanians, who safely left the country long before the expected turmoil, keep raising their shoulders, finding it hard to explain the Albanian mysterious impoverishment.
Nowadays poverty has become a tragic theme of the Albanian reality, and its augmentation can not be avoided by politicians' slogans and promises. The high inflation rate of the Albanian lek persistently discredits the official version that the minimal living standard for a family of four is equal to the social security allowances of 2,984 leks. The poverty issues instead of being in the main agendas and political programmes were simply discarded in the most senseless and brutal electoral campaign in the country. Tension and violence are artificially raised, intrigue is fabricated by politicians, leaving no time to deal with poverty. The question is: Why are international institutions interested in complicity maintaining state secrets? Does the pyramid schemes collapse not prove that complicity and collaboration in the distortion of reality, obscuring the bitter truth can produce venom that can entirely poison both state and society?
Source: Tirana daily "Gazeta Shqiptare", June 19, 1997
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