Covid-19 Pandemia Increases Number of Poor Families in Kosovo

Pandemia, says family head Fatmire Aliu, has made the economic and social situation even more difficult. The help they have received from family members before the pandemic, she says, cannot be received, as all are now facing economic difficulties.

The “conditions are difficult. Very little food is coming up. The man works, but now he's out of work. He has paid 300 euros, 200 euros in loans and 100 euros remain. Our children are one of 12 and the other is 11 years old. We're pushing it like we can. I'm sick too. In this time of our pandemic, it has been harder for my brother at the beginning of our pandemic to bring us food and other things, and now we're putting it off at”, she says.

N. I., known name for editorialism, which lives in social residences in Pristina, says that during the time of pandemic, life has been more difficult, since fewer people have been helped.

It's hard to live with that money while we get it. We get 70 euros a month of social assistance. We're two members, me and my husband. Two of us get 70 euros. It's hard, someone gives us a little help, someone who can. The state should have helped us more at this time. Food sometimes brings us food. There's a little bit of that money to be bought, but we're somehow making it”, she says.

In Kosovo, data from the Ministry of Labour and Social Peace and the Kosovo Red Cross show that the number of families entering the category of poor families has increased during the time of pandemic.

In a written response sent to Radio Europe Free from the Office for Information of the Ministry of Labour and Social Management, the number of households has reportedly increased to 559 families during the pandemic era.

The number of social assistance users in January 2020 was 24,229 families, with 98.214 family members, while in late July there were 24,737 families, with 98,725 family members. Compared to February, the number of households, users of social scheme, has increased to 559 families in the social assistance scheme”, said in response.

The amount of resources these families receive from the Kosovo government is between 50 and 150 euros a month, depending on the number of members.

Officials from this ministry say that starting with the large number of families involved in social schemes, it shows that poverty in Kosovo still remains high. The World Bank's latest poverty line data in Kosovo is from 2017 and has not been updated.

According to these reports, over 23 percent of Kosovo's citizens live in poverty. Of them, about 18 percent live in poverty at less than $2 a day, while 5 percent live below the border of extreme poverty or less than $1.50 a day.

The number of 14 thousand poor families registered on the Red Cross during the pandemic has been added to many more, officials of the organisation say.

Antigona Soopyan, co-ordinator for social welfare in this organisation, says of Radio Free Europe the state of pandemic has caused a major crisis in terms of the number of families in need of assistance.

The number of these families that knock on the doors of the Red Cross every day has grown dramatically.

This number is huge enough compared to the past years. I can't say accurate numbers, but based on the constant demands that come to our offices, it's a huge number.

Mainly, these families need food and hygienic products. Finally, demand for drugs has increased, but the Red Cross does not offer this assistance”, Sopijan says. It shows that during the pandemic period, over 20,000 food and sanitation packages have been distributed to poor families.

Sopijan suggests that those who have sought help during the pandemic and who before this period were not on the Red Cross lists are people who have largely lost their jobs.

“We have their statements that we have they say are now unemployed because many companies have made cuts and are unemployed, but we have physical workers who are asking for help, these are currently aid seekers now”, she says.

The number of Kosovo citizens who have lost their jobs during this time is considered to be high, but there is no precise data.

According to the chairman of the Kosovo Economic Ode, Berat Rukiqii in an interview given Radio Free Europe, had said that if possible economic contraction figures are taken into account, up to 25 thousand jobs could be lost as a result of pandemic.

About 25 thousand lost jobs, according to Rukiqit, are in the most positive version, since this figure can range from 50,000 and more depending on the length of the pandemic.

The World Bank has also reported increasing the poverty rate in the world as a result of COVID-19.

World Bank President David Malpas in May has said that up to 60 million people in the world will face extreme poverty as a result of Coronavirus.

Our assessment is that as many as 60 million people will be driven towards extreme poverty ʹ that destroys the progress made in eliminating poverty in the last three years”, he had warned. / REL/