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The budget changes/ Funds for education and health are cut by 34 million euros

2024-12-24 12:50:59, Ekonomi CNA

Education and health are two underfunded sectors in our country, and on the other hand, in these times when human capital is being depleted by immigration and aging, their funding is vital.

But instead of increasing the funds for education and health were further cut in the third normative act on changes to the 2024 budget that was approved these days.

According to the tables below, the budget of the Ministry of Health was cut by 2.3 billion ALL or 3%, while the budget of the Ministry of Education was cut by 1 billion ALL or 2 percent of the total program.

The weight of education and health financing in relation to the total budget is decreasing year after year. Currently, education funds are administered by the Ministry of Innovation, which is responsible for vocational education with 3.4 billion ALL this year, and the Ministry of Education with a fund of 51.5 billion ALL according to the latest changes.

In total, the budget funds for education this year are 55 billion ALL, which is 7.1% of the total budget. Last year, spending on education was 9.7% of the total budget. Education expenses in relation to budget revenues have been on a downward trend since 2019, where funding in this item was as much as 11.4 percent of budget revenues.

Health care expenses have a similar trend. In 2024, according to the recent changes, health expenditures are programmed to be ALL 75.9 billion from ALL 77.9 billion in the second normative act.

The budget changes/ Funds for education and health are cut by 34 million euros

According to the current program, spending on health is 9.8% of the total budget spending. In 2019, the budget for health was 10..4% of the general budget expenditures.

The cut in spending on education and health comes at a time when the country has increased funding needs due to an aging population and an increase in chronic diseases. Health statistics show an increase of 5% per year in chronic diseases and the "Mother Teresa" Hospital Center always suffers from a lack of therapies for malignant and rare diseases.

On the other hand, the declining results of educational results according to the "PISA" test require increased attention to education. At a time when the country's population is shrinking and aging, a good education of the youth today will become the reason to take the economy to the next level in the years to come.

The management of public finances for years has suffered from an unfair distribution of resources. While the Gross Domestic Product and the state budget have almost doubled in the last decade, Albania currently has 42 percent of its population at risk of poverty, the highest level in Europe, according to Eurostat data.

Also, international organizations list our country on the top list with alarming levels of immigration, especially among the young and educated groups./ Monitor.al