Minister Bislimi speaks of new measures, warns fall of public enterprises

Minister Bislimi has stressed that in this situation in which Kosovo is at war against the Devid-19 pandemic, public companies will have a decline in the capture, given the isolation measures which are undertaken by the government.

“... has influenced the reduction of entrepreneurial revenues and has therefore made it difficult for them to cover normal expenses. Public companies offering basic public services such as water, collecting garbage, heating and similar are also facing more decline incaging as a result of the citizens' movement restrictions.

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Dear citizens of the land,

Kosovo's government has made all its potential available in dealing with the COVID pandemic 19. Since collective knowledge of the Corona virus is in place, the Kosovo government is also largely forced to follow the actions of other countries with the sole goal of controlling the spread of infection. As a result, we have closed nests, schools, and universities not yet presented a single case with infection. Also consistently measures have been taken to limit the action so that the need to keep physical distance can be respected, and citizens have constantly prayed to stay inside their homes and dwellings. Thanks to these decisions and their respect, we have largely been able to protect the health of our citizens, the first of all the elderly within us.

But, of course, all restrictions imposed on the government have hurt the health of the economy. The government of the Republic of Kosovo is aware of that. Keeping parents around; demanding that private companies allow the stay at home of elderly persons and chronically ill; restrictions on urban and inter-urban transport; requirements for closing many economic activities; stops for organising any ceremony or other collection of individuals; hit a host of sectors of the economy; and then within sectors, entrepreneurs have been damaged with different intensity.

The decline in the volume of production or service delivery either because of demands for reducing the number of workers who go to work, whether because of restrictions on economic activity, has contributed to lowering entrepreneurial revenues and has therefore made it difficult for them to cover the usual expenses. Public companies offering basic public services such as water, collecting garbage, heating and similar are also facing more decline incaging as a result of the citizens' movement restrictions. And in the end, the beneficiaries of very difficult social schemes are also coping with the increased cost in the context of restrictions as a result of the manipulative price movement on the part of a small number of irresponsible businesses.

The Kosovo government and the Ministry of Finance and Transfers has detailed all these effects on both the health of the economy and the welfare of citizens, but also the sustainability of the state budget itself. As with other countries, the government's response follows three phases:

1. In the initial phase, the government, through the Ministry of Finance and Transfers, has seen sufficient budgetary means made available to cope with the direct cost of combating infection. In this context, a total of 10m euros has been earmarked for coverage of the emergency cost. The World Bank is also negotiating additional financing to the extent of 7m euros in the event of insufficient funding, and there has also been a demand for extending the contract to an existing health project, with which re-accommodation to the emergency needs of a total of 3.2 million still undistorted loan. Given the conclusion that the poorest levels of society will face additional expenses, social assistance and pensions have been decided to be heavily accommodated before the regular deadline, and an additional monthly aid has been transferred. To come to the aid of businesses going through difficulties with liquidity, the decision has been made to postpone until the end of April and all tax obligations. In agreement with the banking system, it has agreed that businesses and citizens hit by the current situation and government measures will be allowed to delay the repayment of monthly installments without the application of interest-devotions and no implications for borrower credit rating. The fee for import of raw materials from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has been removed, and the decision has been signed to free wheat and flour from customs and VAT tariffs.

2. Aware that this is not enough, the Government through the Ministry of Finance and Transfers and in collaboration with other ministries, and especially with representatives of almost all of the country's economic opas and clubs, is in the process of drafting an emergency package that focuses on the trinomin: citizenship, employee and employer. Each of these categories has been hit and each needs support. Of course, for all of the evolutionists in this process of drafting the emergency fiscal package, two things are known: A) State budget health has been hit hard by preliminary governments, and the country's interventional capacity is very limited -- thanks to measures to delay tax obligations, but also problems with the state of government accounts. And B) from this crisis, the level of well-being will mark decline both in Kosovo and on a global level, therefore government intervention cannot target compensation, but only to ensure that in the end, losses are minimal and spread right between us all. The measures to be taken in this context are aimed at additional protections for the most vulnerable class of society; additional liquidity for the small and medium-sized enterprises that have been hit by the situation, helping companies struggling to cover the cost of payments and part of pay compensation for companies that have been forced to withdraw from the government's imposing decisions.

3. Hoping that this period of major restrictions on freedom of movement and in the exercise of economic activity will end relatively quickly, the Government also in co-operation with partners representing business, is pledging to develop a fiscal intervention plan so that the country's economy can be resurrected as soon as possible. There is no doubt about the government that private sector health is a prerequisite for public finance health. Through this plan, financial market equipment will be targeted with sufficient liquidity and monetary policy institutions for businesses that turn into a challenge to increase production capacities or access to new markets and products. Measures thought to be taken will target specific sectors, and within sectors mainly businesses that are formalised and guarantee the preservation of their workforce.

In the end, the last ten days have produced many difficulties for most of us. But at the same time, they have also produced a lot of confusion and too much of the ideas and recipes for exit. There is no intervention programme that has not been publicly suggested (in most cases with good intentions), but each without even a basic mown, without connections with macroeconomic complexity and unrecognition with the country's fiscal capacity. Also repeatedly recommended is entering loans to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, as well as making neither the minimum effort to quantify the cost of businesses from the government's restrictive measures, without having enough knowledge of the specifics of our country's access to the international capital market and not knowing legal restrictions in this direction.

Our goal is to implement measures that are affordable to the economy in the medium and long term in order to minimize the damage of each infected category. In this context, we have contacted and continue to contact each multilatheral financial institution in search of the most suitable options for providing enough financial means to address the needs of citizens and businesses. Of course, for each initiative and each decision we will keep you informed in real time.