Germany saw tax dump, exported mostly to Kosovo

Today, a year comes from the entry into force of the 100 percent tax decision on products of Serbia and Bosnia, which had a tremendous effect on the trade balance.

Until one year ago, Kosovo had imported goods from Serbia worth about 450m euros, since the tax was imposed, only 3m euros from this country have been imported to our country.

Even though incumbent Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is praised for his decision towards Serbia, economic connoisseurs say Kosovo did not benefit in political and economic terms.

Official Kosovo Customs data shows that Kosovo has imported from Serbia only 3.3m euros in this period, until some 450m euros have been imported within a year.

Kosovo Customs spokesman says of Kosova Prees that the tax has first influenced Kosovo to have a positive commercial balance with Serbia, where it managed to export 12m euros of products to this state.

Stavileci adds that the tax made Germany to be the state on the first list from which goods are most imported from Kosovo.

If the trade balance with Serbia is looked at, the tax has impacted Kosovo for the first time to have a positive commercial balance with Serbia because during this period we have exported about 12m euros of products there until we have imported goods from Serbia about 3.3m euros. So we can say that we have a positive balance, but no necessitys this translates as a result of Kosovo's economy, but as a result of the tax's applied” effect, Stavileci said.

While incumbent Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is talking about the effects of the tax, KosovoPress says the support of local producers should be continued, as this helps to boost economic development.

Haradinaj, who continues to be persistent for the rest of the tax in power, says 1.2 billion euros of cash had been completed annually in Serbia, under which it was a big mistake.

Our money has ended in Serbia. We're not the economy, we're just the market, just the stall of others and other economies, not only of Serbia, but Serbia has had the very low prices that it has damaged our producers to produce and has been able to compete with non-fer, subsidies, with support from others. We need to continue giving production, that production is the” economy, Haradinaj says.

For replacing products from Serbia, he says a five of them have been replaced with local products, which is an indicator for Kosovo's economy.

“A part of these goods is compensated for the country's goods, with producers, this is an extraordinary indicator for the country's economy, the fact that producers have started coming to terms on the market, in the economy”, he said.

Economics expert Safet Gerjaliu, who has been opposed to the tax repeatedly, told Kosova Prees that such a move has been wrong, because, according to him, by such a 100 per cent majority, Serbia is the biggest winner, becoming a victim, while in fact, the economic victim has been Kosovo and its private sector.

The former head of the Kosovo Economic Ode estimates the tax affected the increase in prices for products, and made the country one of the seven most expensive states in Europe.

The “stands even further than such a tax has been political in order to produce populism, in particular in the October 6th election to have this coalition (PAN) more votes. Politically, Kosovo has lost -- be it internal and external -- in particular in the external aspect where all the sponsors of independence have been opposed to such a decision. And for the stubbornness of certain individuals, such a provision has remained. In the second economic order, I am surprised with economic connoisseurs who do not understand the term inflation and increased citizen basket prices, and Kosovo is one of the seven most expensive states in Europe”, Gerjaliu says.

The 100% trade tax impact, according to a GAP Institute report, annually Kosovo has imported goods worth 400m euros from Serbia and about 80m euros from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together, these two states make up about 17% of Kosovo's total import.

After imposing a 100% tax on products of Serbian and Bosnian origin, imports from these countries suffered a drastic decline. Despite that, Kosovo Customs's latest data shows that the trade deficit has increased by 5.4%. During November 2018, when taxes were imposed, until March 2019, totaling 77m euros (6.4%) were imported compared to the same months of the preliminary year”, the GAP report published months ago said.

Remember, on 21 November last year, the Government of Kosovo made a decision that products imported from Serbia and Bosnia will be taxed 100%.

The proposal came from the Minister of Trade and Industry, Andrew Shala, who at the same meeting also asked for the removal of all products in which Kosovo and Metohija “wrote”.

This decision by the Kosovo government came just a day after the country failed to join Interpol because of its fierce Serbian campaign against Kosovo.

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj backed the initiative at the time, saying it would remain until Belgrade's reflection and recognition of the state of Kosovo by Serbia.

A year later, Kosovo has not been recognised by Serbia, but much has changed after the subsequent events.

The first to react were the Serbs, who started with protests and followed by the resignations of the Serb mayors, who only a few months later in the extraordinary elections were re-elected.

World leaders called for the tax to be lifted, or, at best, as the US suggested, suspended.

The issue also began to shake up the local political scene, with President Hashim Thaci initially declaring the tax should not be maintained but later changed because of Serbia's tough campaign against Kosovo independence and the blocking of dialogue, conditioning it to remove the tax.

Later, northern Serbian municipalities tried to insulate a humanitarian crisis by shutting down shops and claiming that there were no basic products, but as intelligence had discovered it all resulted in being a farce.

The chairman of the House and all at once The PDK, Kadri Wessel, declared in the summer of this year that the tax should be suspended as it threatened friendship with the US and the European Union.

It all culminated with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj's resignation, arguing that he was invited by the Special Court, while later would claim there was pressure to lift the tax.

Kosovo is already in a new political reality with Vetevendosje Movement Chairman Albin Kurtin, as the potential candidate to assume the prime minister's post. The same has promised that with Serbia there will be only political and economic reciprocity.