Exile money softening Kosovo poverty

The Kosovo Central Bank (BQK) has announced that the inflows of reminances in Kosovo constitute one of the most important sources of foreign financing, thus dominant in discussions concerning sources of economic growth, easing the trade deficit gap, lowering the poverty level in the country, or attracting foreign investment.

“This high attention given to the reminances is attributed mainly to the size of these flows in relation to the local Bruto Production, their sustainable nature compared to other flows of foreign financing and their smoothing effect of poverty and unemployment in the country”, says the BQC research material, macroeconomic responders of reminances in Kosovo, public television reports.

During 2004-2016, reminances have marked an average annual growth rate of about 6 percent, although their performance is subject to several structural fractures during this period. In 2005-2008, reminiscing has been characterised by a two-iff growth rate that has fluctuated at an interval of 10 percent-17 percent. While in 2009 and 2010, reminisce has marked a slight annual decline that largely resulted in the impact of the financial crisis on countries where the Kosovo diaspora is concentrated. The year 2011 marked the highest historical decline in reminances, with about 15 percent, which was attributed to changing the methodology of reminance measurement by the Department of Statistics (Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo). Since 2011, reminances have been characterised with a slower growth rate compared to previous periods of about 7 percent”, the CEC's research material, the macroeconomic definition of reminances in Kosovo, says.

According to the BQC, reminances in Kosovo have contributed to easing the trade deficit of goods and services, covering it at a rate of around 38 per cent on average throughout 2004-2016.