Italy and Albania

Financial Relations in the Fascist Period

Alessandro Roselli

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781845112547
• eBook ISBN: 9780857713902
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economia
• Subtopic: Storia economica

The first full and comprehensive examination of the turbulent financial and economic relationship between Italy and Albania in the twentieth century, which throws new light on Italian Fascist imperialism. "Italy and Albania" retraces the complicated foreign and economic strategy that led in 1939 to the "union of the two crowns" of Italy and Albania. Drawing on original research, Roselli shows how Italy's strategy towards Albania veered between the extremes of a minimum of economic penetration and a maximum of political interference. He shows how, from an Albanian perspective, King Zog's policy was an impossible balancing act between the conflicting interests of foreign powers. Often presented as a trophy of Fascist foreign policy, the Italian experience in Albania in the interwar period can be regarded as a major economic failure. The huge inflow of Italian capital to Albania - consisting almost entirely of government money - failed not only to set in motion a stable expansion of the Albanian economy but also to produce a return for Italy in terms of the exploitation of the country's natural resources or its trade with Albania.
Contemporary observers were impressed by the strength of Albania's currency, its monetary regime based on the gold standard, and its strong balance of payments. But this was largely window dressing, behind which there was an extremely backward economy that siphoned resources out of Italy, without that country gaining any appreciable advantage. Seen in this light, the events of 1939 -the Italian occupation of Albania and the Union between the two countries - become the inevitable consequence of a state of economic affairs that was unacceptable to Fascist Italy. Italy's involvement in Albania did not end with the defeat of Fascism, as the long international controversy surrounding the gold of the Albanian Central Bank demonstrates. This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the history of both countries and the make up of Europe today.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraphy
• Contents
• Figures and tables
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chronology
• Albanian Prime Ministers,and Italian and British diplomatic envoys to Albania (1913–1943)
• 1 Italy and Albania,1900–1920
• 2 The Albanian economy and the Balkan context: the Calmès Report
• 3 The League of Nations: a missed opportunity
• 4 The creation of the National Bank of Albania and the SVEA
• 5 The balance of trade, the balance of payments and the exchange rate of the Albanian franc
• 6 Albanian monetary policy
• 7 The occupation of Albania and the union between Italy and Albania
• 8 A short-lived ‘lira area’
• 9 Some observations on Albania’s income and the economic aspects of the Italian presence
• 10 The question of the ‘Albanian gold’
• 11 Summary and conclusions
• Appendix
• Notes
• References
• Index