Foreign investments, remittances to Albania rise remarkably

Foreign direct investments in Albania increased 36 percent in the second trimester of 2015, reaching 198 million euros (224.5 million U.S. dollars), Albanian Daily News reported on Saturday.

According to data from the Bank of Albania, total foreign investments in the first half of this year grew 31.5 percent year on year, with an increase of 115 million euros (130.4 million dollars).

The Bank of Albania said that most of the direct investments went to the fuel sector, which received 226 million euros (256.2 million dollars), or 47 percent of the total. Investments in the banking and telecommunication sectors came in second and third, accounting for 10 percent and 3 percent of the total respectively.

According to the bank, remittances to Albania in the second quarter totaled 162.5 million euros (184.2 million dollars), up 17.6 percent year on year.

The data also show that during the first six months of this year, remittances were not hit by the Greek crisis, which peaked in June when Greece closed banks.