Private Sector Promotes Economic Growth

This increase, according to the report, is said to have been driven mainly by investments, supported by consumption and a revival of exports.

Exports, said the report, are being stimulated by the strong growth of Eurozone countries, increased production of basic metals, higher international prices for eel and lead, and a widespread increase in goods and other services production.

Experts on economic issues in Kosovo, as good news in this area, consider the fact that for the first time in the country, economic growth is cited as being created by the private sector.

Economics expert Naim Gashi says economic growth is the result of reforms in the area of the economy that have been undertaken in the past two years, which have created facilities for the business community.

The most important aspect of the World Bank report is that for the first time in 2016 and this year, the main burden of economic development is being carried by the private sector, as opposed to the past, when public projects financed from the state budget” were carried.

International financial mechanisms have placed Kosovo in the country with the highest economic growth in the region.

World Bank economist in Pristina office Agim Demukaj says the prospect of economic growth in Kosovo is positive, and economic growth is projected to reach 4.8 per cent in the 1920s and 2019.

But, according to him, the anticipated improvement is the subject of risks, including perceptions about political stability and the possible lack of capacities to advance ambitious public investment plans.

If we compare Kosovo on the map of the Western Balkans to the economic growth of other countries, it is seen that the trend continues that Kosovo has better watched than other countries. Of course, it is from a lower base and is more or less understandable”, Demukaj points out.

Despite economic growth of 4.4 percent, Naim Gashi says that economic growth in the daily lives of citizens must reach over 6 percent to be observed.

Only then does he say, will the unemployment and poverty rate in Kosovo be low.

And, to get a higher level of economic growth, Gashi says, the fight against tax evasion and against monopolies, as he says, that are close to politics in Kosovo.

In fact, monopolies are creating several thousand jobs, but are actually destroying companies that can create tens of thousands of jobs. What the Government of Kosovo has to do is to create an equal race through the business community tool”.

“We, all of us, both the economic sector and citizens, are witnesses that there are stronger businesses in Kosovo than the state. They use public assets, whether in the field of telecoms, counterparts, importation of certain products, then various public jobs -- companies that are privileged by the state” -- Gashi estimates.

Even Kosovo Government Finance Minister Bedri Hamza has promised that competent institutions will continue to work on further reforms, in the function of rapid and sustainable growth.