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Albania parliament closes duty-free shops at border crossings 

Albanian lawmakers have voted to close duty-free shops at border crossings to crack down on smuggling and corruption and qualify for international financial aid.

Parliament voted 86-7 on Thursday, with 23 abstentions, to shut down the shops as requested by the International Monetary Fund . At stake was US$36 million in IMF assistance over the next three years.

Albania's government concedes that duty-free shops have been used to smuggle cigarettes and alcohol into the country without paying custom tariffs, significantly depriving the cash-strapped state of millions of dollars in revenue.

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