The Summer Day, Albania’s sole official holiday with pagan roots marking the end of winter and the events celebrating the beauties of nature and life kicked off this year in Elbasan, the key host of this holiday that is now celebrated countrywide with a diverse of festive events that brought together citizens of all ages.

In respect to the tradition, Prime Minister Edi Rama sent his Summer Day wishes from the central Albanian city of Elbasan, where, accompanied by local mayor Gledian Llatja, as well as cabinet members and lawmakers representing Elbasan constituency attended some of the events specifically designed to mark this holiday.

“It is a beautiful day, unmistakable harbinger of spring. I would like to wish everyone many returns to the sunny days and seasons that bring more optimism, hoping at the same time that these seasons fuel stronger economy in the tourist Albania that is developing year after year.

I am very pleased that on this Summer Day eve we can announce some very good news for all of those who work and rely on hard work, starting with the bottom wage that will increase to 40,000 lek starting from April, in a move that exceeds all the electoral programs of all parties for this four-year term and beyond the most optimistic predictions. This decision to increase the minimum salary to 40,000 lek has been made and all companies, private enterprises and state institutions will start enforcing it as of April.

In the meantime, we have also drafted the bill designed to deliver on a long-time pledge to remove income tax on monthly wages up to 50,000 lek.

“It is a natural process that with the bottom wage hike we should also increase wages for other employees so that we can deliver on our target for highest average salary in the region. With the minimum wage reviewed, the country moves to a better position in the region, leaving behind some countries and seeking to move higher in the overall ranking compared to other countries,

I very much hope that this summer we also receive the long-awaited news about the new oil and gas reserve in Shpirag area, a discovery that would breathe new life into the economy and will certainly have a direct impact on the standards of living and the level of wealth, it would have direct impact on the state budget, investment plans, as well as on higher salaries.

In the meantime, I would like to extend a very special wish to all retirees and tell them despite the daily and useless speculations by the politics and the media, not only that we haven’t forgotten the promise to grant retired people another special bonus by taking advantage of the state budget revenue collections from the extraordinary tax leveled on the big energy exporters, but quite the contrary, as we have already stated, the first tranche of this tax will be collected in April and as soon as this tax revenue is collected, we will explore ways to help retirees as soon as this happens. Many wishes to everyone and may you all enjoy a season full of sun and light, and moreover with more enlighted hearts and minds!” – PM Rama said in his remarks.