Local production capacities increase, but prices

The 100 per cent tax imposed by the Government of Kosovo nine months ago on products originating from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has banned almost in the overallity of these two countries in Kosovo.

Kosovo Customs data speaks of a minimum export of products from these two states in Kosovo.

Kosovo Customs spokesman Adriatic Stavileci tells Radio Free Europe that for nine months the export of products of these two countries in Kosovo has been 11m euros, until the tax was imposed on only one daily from these two countries.i has been over 1.4m euros.

“Customs data shows that we have a sharp decline in imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina's export decline is 98 per cent, while Serbia is about 97 per cent, this could be called total import ban, compared to the value it used to be before tax is taxed”, Stavileci says.

Placing this tax by business representatives is said to have had a positive impact on production industry, After some of these products from these two countries, in particular from Serbia, were replaced by local products.

Bedri Kosumi, owner of the company “Pestova”, which deals with processing and production of potatoes, tells Radio Free Europe that they have increased production capacities since the tax was imposed.

If you compare the six-month-old 2018 to this year's six-month, statistics show that we have increased production capacities by 30 percent. The market has increased demand for our products and we have increased production capacities”, Kosumi says.

Increasing production capacities, Kosumi says, also caused the number of workers to rise.

The “We currently have 252 regular workers until the same period last year have been around 200 workers”, Kosumi says.

Some economic associations in Kosovo have conducted some research for the effects of local production tax.

Research by these organisations as the Kosovo Business Alliance and the Kosovo Producer Club show that production capacities have increased and the number of employees in the production industry has increased.

The 100 per cent tax on products originating from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina had an impact on consumer prices, according to some citizens surveyed by Radio Free Europe.

Valmira Kelmendi, resident of Pristina, says prices have increased, in particular those of consumption.

<x) Although it's said that the 100 percent tax hasn't affected, but I think this has caused prices instead to mark a” increase, Kelmendi says.

Merita Castrati likewise expresses it.

I'm thinking that in price hikes, prices have increased, some products in the market have been replaced with products from other countries, but local ones are probably better, but they are more expensive”, she says.

An increase in consumer prices is also counted in the data of the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK).

The overall harmonised consumption prices <x0). This is mainly explained with consumer price hikes; bread and cereals have marked growth of 14 percent, meat for 4.7 percent, vegetables 1.2 percent, increases have also marked other products”, the ASS data says.

The Kosovo government in November last year imposed customs duties 100 per cent for goods originating from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The introduction of this tax was in response to Belgrade and Sarajevo's policies in relation to the state of Kosovo.

The governments of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States of America have earlier called on Kosovo for tax removal imposed on Serbia in order to continue dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade for normalisation of relations.