The Ideological economic relationship between Albania and Yugoslavia, 1945-1948

During the years 1945 to 1948 Yugoslavia had an enormous impact and influence on Albania’s economy and economical development. This influence went so far as we can say that Albania and Yugoslavia in those years were economically united. They had a common currency, common custom unions, common economic plans. In those years they signed a lot of treaties between them to further their close economic relations. This close economic relationship between Albania and Yugoslavia was not based on real economic interests between two countries, but on ideological interests. The albanian government didn’t wish to have economic relations with Italy or other european countries, or even the United States, as it had been before the Second World War, but it preferred other communist countries and the one willing to help was Yugoslavia. The albanian government repeatedly considered this relationship as a democratic and sincere economic relationship between the two countries which aimed at helping the people and not just the foreigners who invested in albania, and it contrasted it with the so called imperialistic economic relationship that Albania had before the Second World War with Italy which aimed at using Albania’s natural resources without helping the common people. This economic relationship ended in 1948 because according to the albanian government, this relationship was not anymore democratic and sincere.