The Board agreed an extension to Albania's reporting deadline

Despite the efforts of the Albanian MSG and the Government to identify other sources of funding than the World Bank EGPS grant, a combination of factors outside of the MSG’s control, such as financial consequences of the 2019 earthquake, the Covid-19 pandemic, and severe effects of the war in Ukraine, led to the funding gap and delay in EITI reporting. The Government has taken steps to ensure continuity of the EITI process such as progress in the appointment of the new National Coordinator and continuous work of the national secretariat and MSG. 

The Board recognises that even though the delay in funding is usually not considered as an exceptional circumstance, the confluence of the above-mentioned factors affected the Government’s ability to secure other sources of funding to enable the timely publication of their EITI Report. The Board therefore agreed the following:  

1. To extend Albania’s reporting deadline by ten months, i.e. 30 June 2023. 
2. If the report is not published by the required deadline of 30 June 2023 the country will be temporarily suspended, in accordance with Chapter 4, Article 2 of the EITI Standard.