Today USAID and a local NGO, Assist Impact, in partnership with the School of Magistrates, announced the launch of the “Manual on the Albanian Insolvency Law” to support business development in Albania.  USAID/Albania Mission Director, Jim Barnhart, and Assist Impact’s Deputy Director, Bruna Stamo, and the Head of the Magistrates School, Neshat Fana, delivered remarks at a ceremony held at the Magistrate’s School. 

USAID and Assist Impact formally delivered the “Manual on the Albanian Insolvency Law” to the School of Magistrates and other stakeholders and recognized the 140 Albanian judges who completed training on modern bankruptcy and insolvency practices.  This manual and training represents the culmination of many years of work by international and Albanian legal professionals, members of the donor community, including World Bank, and the Albanian government and business community. 

“Albanian creditors must have a reliable bankruptcy system to recover loans and liquidate bankrupt borrowers, or to assist insolvent borrower to reorganize and recover,” said Barnhart in his remarks.  “It is in the hands of the judges and legal professional here today to enforce the Albania’s insolvency law in a transparent and equitable manner.”

Although Albania ranks relatively high compared to countries in the region (62 out of 189) in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report on time and cost for businesses to resolve insolvencies indicator, only in 2012 was the first case of bankruptcy resolved.  As Albania is seeing a dramatic rise in the number of non-performing loans, a more effective implementation of its bankruptcy system would be beneficial to the country’s economy and financial stability.

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