More than a month after the June 23 general elections won by the Socialist-led coalition, Prime Minister designate Edi Rama is still shaping his cabinet. Rama started meetings with nominated ministers and said he will form the government in September. The new parliament will convene on September 9. The left-wing coalition comprising the Socialist Party (SP) and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) won 84 mandates in the 140-seat parliament against 56 mandates for the coalition led by former ruling Democratic Party (DP). On the macroeconomic front, the statistics office said consumer prices in the country grew by 1.6% year on year in July easing from a 2.3% annual hike in June with the overall trend again determined by food prices. The unemployment rate stayed at 12.8% for the second straight quarter in Q1 with the number of unemployed Albanians totalling 142,000. Albania’s general government debt increased by 1.4% quarter on quarter to ALL 871.9bn (EUR 6.21bn) at end-June 2013 and accounted for 60.9% of the projected full-year GDP, up by 0.8pps quarter on quarter. The general budget deficit expanded by 114% year on year in the first five months of 2013 and accounted for 2.7% of the projected full-year GDP, up from 1.3% a year earlier.