Retaining the Growth Momentum in Albania: An Interview by World Bank Country Manager Emanuel Salinas with Monitor Magazine

In transitioning to his new role as World Bank Country Manager for Iraq, Emanuel Salinas, the outgoing World Bank Country Manager for Albania, spoke to Monitor Magazine about the economic situation and challenges facing Albania. This interview was originally published in Albanian in the print edition of Monitor Magazine on December 28, 2024.

Monitor: Mr. Salinas what are some of the most significant achievements or changes you've witnessed or contributed to during your 3 and a half year in Albania?

Emanuel Salinas (ES): Development work is a labor of patience, perseverance and maybe even faith. I don't say this in a religious way, but I'm trying to reflect the fact that in this line of work it is very infrequent that we get to see results immediately. Instead of that, we plant "development seeds", which can be, for example, helping to shape policies to improve the lives of those that have the least, or working with authorities to reform institutions to make them more accountable, or starting works in physical investments like schools, hospitals or roads that we know are needed. There is always a lot of preliminary work to ensure that those 'seeds' are not only based on good intentions, but more importantly, well-developed analysis of what works and what doesn't and the most effective ways to address existing challenges.

Development work is thus a continuum. I get to plant the seeds that my successors will need to tend to and see through to results. And I also get to finalize the work that my predecessors have started. The constant through all of this is our local staff, our clients and counterparts. They are the ones that provide continuity, keep us moving in the right direction and keep our institutional memory.

That's all to say, that at most I had the privilege to be part of a long story of partnership between the World Bank and Albania. As part of this long story, I've been very proud to see our work during Covid (when we rapidly provided equipment, ambulances and financed the major transformation of the infectious diseases hospital in the middle of the pandemic - really, like changing the engines of a plane while it's flying). I was also proud to see the renovation of seven regional hospitals; and the renovation of town centers and heritage sites in Berat, Saranda and Gjirokastra, which really had a transformative impact on creation of new jobs and reinvigoration of the local economy. In terms of seeds planted, I was proud to work with colleagues and counterparts to start projects that will reconstruct bridges at risk of collapse, alleviate the wastewater pollution of the Vjosa river and improve the resilience of agriculture sector to climate change.

Monitor: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced working in Albania, and how did you overcome them?

ES: I tend to be very impatient and would like to see things moving rapidly towards results and sometimes it is difficult for me to accept delays. I think that this is because as a child I was a beneficiary of the World Bank - growing up in a poor neighborhood in Mexico City, my primary school and daily lunch were provided by a World Bank project. So, in the back of my mind there are constantly two frequent ideas: first, it's a great responsibility to 'pay back' the opportunities I had, by creating opportunities for others. Second, is the recognition that we really do not have time to waste. Every week that a project was delayed was painful in a personal way, knowing that there are people whose lives will be impacted.

So the challenges I encountered in Albania were no different from those in other countries. But here I found that there were always people that were ready to take action and get things done. I have sincere appreciation and admiration for many government officials and counterparts at ministries, who I saw working long hours and over weekends. I think there are many unsung heroes in the public administration.

Monitor: Your forecasts about Albanian economy have been always challenging and straightforward. Can we have your last forecast about the expected performance of Albanian economy for 2025?

ES: We live in uncertain times, and it is difficult to predict the direction and impact of external factors such as geopolitical shocks and climate change. But I think that Albania has had a prudent fiscal management over the past years (including maintaining a declining trajectory in debt, increasing revenues and maintaining a judicious approach to expenditures). This means that the country is relatively well positioned to respond to shocks in the short term.

In the longer term, it really will be important to ensure that the economic transformation of the country (towards a more productivity-driven economy) is expedited and that the risks stemming from exposure to climate change are mitigated. These issues are very well analyzed, so we don't need to start from scratch to figure out what to do. The sooner we collectively take action, the better.

Monitor: In your opinion what are some immediate priorities or challenges that Albania needs to address in the future?

ES: Every country faces multiple challenges in its own development trajectory. But there is one in particular that I think will be critical to Albania and it will determine the potential for Albania to grow from a middle-income economy to a high income one. This challenge relates to improving human capital and it has two dimensions:

A) The first dimension is to ensure that the current human capital of Albania is utilized in the best way possible. This means that all those that are at or close to working age have a fair chance to be productive and have well-paid jobs. To do that, we absolutely need to improve the provision of childcare and lengthen school hours so that parents (but specially mothers) have the possibility to be economically active. We estimate that this alone could increase Albania's GDP by more than 5%. We also need to ensure that Albania's youth is occupied in productive activities, either formal employment or education (and right now, almost one quarter of young people are not in either of these). To do that, we need to improve employment services to better connect employers to job seekers and improve vocational education to equip young people with the skills that are in demand in the labor market. And we need radically improve how we leverage the Albanian labor force that is currently living abroad. This includes using diaspora to bring experience, know-how and investment to Albania, fostering return of those living abroad, and rapidly reintegrating to the economy the returnees that come back.

B) The second dimension is to nurture the future human capital so that children grow up to have healthy and productive lives. I have always been very saddened to see the PISA scores for Albania. These are standardized scores for many countries and assess the performance of the school's systems in terms of how well they prepare students. The latest scores for Albania suggest that more than 70% of fifteen-year-olds are unable to read and understand academic texts and have limited proficiency in mathematics. This quite simply cannot be the basis for the economy that Albania aspires to have - a knowledge-driven, higher productivity economy. And if it was up to me, I would place all my efforts in fostering a radical improvement of the education system, from early childhood education to tertiary education.

In my view, the three highest priorities for any country should be education, education, education.

Monitor: What are some of the most valuable lessons you've learned working in Albania that you will take with you?

ES: There is a minister here whom I worked closely with, and she frequently told me "Emanuel, when do you think I will have time to read a long report?" And that was really a key message for me. Decision makers are, by definition, time starved and need actionable information in a timely basis. At the World Bank we see ourselves as a 'knowledge bank'. This means that the value added that we bring, beyond financing, is, indeed, knowledge, and we invest a lot of efforts and resources to create it. This goes from macroeconomic forecasting to analysis of climate change; from just-in-time technical assistance to improve institutions to analysis of options to enhance access to finance; from analysis of factors that influence poverty, to gathering lessons learned worldwide to improve productivity, to name just a few of the knowledge areas we have covered for Albania.

But all this investment can be underutilized if we don't make sure that all this knowledge reaches those that can use it, and it is easily accessible. So, during my tenure I always emphasized to our teams to do brief and clear reports and avoid jargon and acronyms. I also worked closely with my colleague in charge of communications to 'digest' this knowledge and share it through different means, using personal stories whenever possible - knowing that as humans we learn more from stories than from graphs and percentages. We changed the way in which we communicate, avoiding using our social media to congratulate ourselves and using it more to talk about the issues that we think matter most to Albania. It's work in progress, but I am very proud of the overall direction.

One smaller lesson: I think there are way too many conferences in Albania! Every day there are numerous events, and I often wonder whether we are taking too much time from everyone to talk about things instead of focusing more on getting things done. I tried to avoid contributing to that by reducing the number of conferences organized by the World Bank. From time to time, we still have them, but we try to keep them short.

Monitor: What do you hope will be the World Bank's lasting impact in Albania?

ES: Some of the first client country for the World Bank was France, as it went into reconstruction after the Second World War, other European countries followed after that. Eventually, as they reached a high-income level, they 'graduated' from receiving assistance from the World Bank to becoming donors to it so that other countries in lower income level could, in turn, receive assistance as well. This was also the development trajectory of countries in Eastern Europe, and I have no doubt that this will be the case for Albania. And I believe that everything we do here contributes in one way or another to that trajectory. So, the lasting impact we aspire to have is to contribute in any way we can to a successful, high-income Albania where people benefit equally from shared prosperity, live prosperous and healthy lives and the natural wonders that this country has are preserved for future generations.

Monitor: What excites you most about your new assignment, and how do you think it will build on the experiences you've had in Albania and more broadly in our region?

ES: Today I am ending my first month in my new assignment as representative of the World Bank in Iraq. Although it is just the beginning of the new journey, I have had the opportunity to meet very interesting, positive and welcoming people in Baghdad. There is so much to do there as the country moves on from many years of conflict towards a path of stability and growth. I need to learn rapidly about the country, the history, the current situation and future challenges and opportunities. But it is very clear that even though countries may be very different, the aspirations of people are very similar: we all want to live in peace, be able to cover the needs of our family and see our children live successful and healthy lives.

One thing that is different is that I don't have the ability to walk or cycle from home to work as I did in Tirana every day. I don't have the freedom to sit at a caffe and talk to friends or read a book. Coming from Mexico, I know that these are some freedoms that we tend to take for granted but can be easily lost when we lack security. These are important freedoms that people in Albania have and that should be cherished. Especially at a time when we so much conflict and uncertainty in other places in the world.

So, I would like to end by encouraging everyone in Albania to pause for a second and enjoy the freedom and the numerous blessings that this amazing country has. As we strive for a better future and get ready to face the challenges that 2025 may bring to us, I think it is important to pause and be grateful for what we have.

From my side, I would like to thank your readers for your patience with this long interview and I thank everyone of you that I had a chance to work with for all your commitment, patience with me and above all, all your friendship.

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