Municipalities and ministries owe 5.8 billion lek! Pogradec Municipality has 220 million lek in debt. Problem linked to layoffs

Public investments are being made, but often private contractors are not paid, while the long-standing issue of unfair layoffs of administrative employees continues to weigh on the budget.

The latest report from the Ministry of Finance shows that overdue obligations of ministries and municipalities decreased last year, but old problems remain.

In total, central and local government debts amounted to 5.8 billion lek at the end of 2025, down from about 7.3 billion lek in 2024. This represents a reduction of 1.4 billion lek in overdue obligations.

Overdue obligations

December 2024: 7,327 million lek

December 2025: 5,847 million lek

Difference: -1,480 million lek

The central government has a total of 1.5 billion lek in debt, with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Health, Agriculture, and then Defense leading the list.

Debts by ministry:

Ministry of Infrastructure: 332 million lek

Ministry of Health: 260 million lek

Ministry of Agriculture: 256 million lek

Ministry of Defense: 244 million lek

Municipalities have 2.9 billion lek in obligations, led by Kavaja, Tirana, followed by Pogradec, Vorë, and Rrogozhina.

Debts by municipality:

Kavaja: 755 million lek

Tirana: 570 million lek

Pogradec: 220 million lek

Vorë: 184 million lek

Rrogozhina: 140 million lek

The same report highlights that investments are the main reason for creating these obligations. About 1.6 billion lek of debt is related to private-sector investments that remain unpaid by the state. This issue is most significant for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture, while among local governments, unpaid investments dominate in Vorë municipality.

Debts by category:

Investments: 1,621 million lek

Court decisions: 712 million lek

Services: 658 million lek

The category with the next highest debt value is court decisions, mainly related to unfair layoffs of administrative employees. Around 712 million lek in obligations fall into this category, with most concentrated in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior.

Since the situation is more problematic among local governments, with inherited debts from the 2015 territorial reform, the government allocated 1.2 billion lek at the end of last year to partially settle municipal debts.

“KORÇA BOOM”