The purpose of this manual is to facilitate the work of finance specialists and all actors included within the Local Government Unit (LGU) on the evaluation of the needs to finance a project through a loan; the analysis of the financial market; the approval procedures; the planning of the funds to be borrowed and the repayment schedule; the preparation of bankable projects.
April 2009
This publication w as made possible by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by ARD, Inc.

The USAID Local Governance Program in Albania (LGPA) intends to, amongst other, support selected municipalities in the process of borrowing in the financial market, inform them on the new Law on Borrowing, as well as fuel the capacities of the municipalities to make sure they implement this Law. This document is a detailed breakdown of the Law and the deriving sublegal acts as well as a method to evaluate the legal framework on the Local Government Borrowing and their financial power to endure a certain loan.
In this process, LGPA noticed that the Local Units, not only were unclear how to react in the process of financing their projects, but also that the majority of the financial institucions capable of lending to the Local Units do not have a good source of information for the evaluation of the financial capabilities. Usually, the methods used by the banks are designed to evaluate the private companies but not the Local Government Units and the lack of such information makes the borrowing process more complicated. This manual is a step toward the improvement of this information for both sides (the LGUs and the financial institutions).