Current loss trend accounts for around 30m euros, businesses demand recovery packages

The Kosovo Government's measures for preventing and fighting Coronavirus, which is in force from April 7th, include suspension of activities in gastronomy services, in addition to “services, take with you” and those on orders. Also prohibited is the activity of closed malls, besides essential services within them.

The executive director of the Club of Producers, Astrit Panja, in an interview for Online Economics said the closure would have an impact on lowering circulation and consumption, adding that to get out of this situation, the government has to compensate for the damage.

“To get out of trouble must be offset. Last year we've had a 6% economic downturn and we've been staying bad for the countries in the region, and it's been because we had a political crisis where two governments haven't been functional and couldn't then influence the economy enough.

The impact that “will have on the government is how much it will invest in the economy because it has a drop in budget”, Panja added.

While, according to the chairman of the Kosovo Alliance of Business (AKB), Agim Sahini, said the current trend of losses in Kosovo in terms of economic operators and sectors that are closed is about 30 million.

He even said that such definitions should include postponing debts, penalties, and loans.

“Following our current waste trend in Kosovo can be fated at about 30 million currently and it was an uncalculated decision, which would have to be corrected and forwarded with some additional decisions by covering all the expenses of the economic operators, the sectors that are closed so that they can easily spend these closing days including the extension of debts, penalties, interest of different taxes and loans, so that this has not happened and that they should be billed on all business and that has been hard to compensate for the times they lost, Shahink> added to the time they lost.

On the other hand, Panja stressed that the government should not save when it is in question the economy because local producers must be empowered.

The main “causes closure because it affects reducing consumption because people don't go to local spending, and this has an impact on reducing economic activity. The second is vaccine because we're too late to vaccinate. If it doesn't start to move in this regard, we have trouble visiting from abroad because Kosovo will present it as a country that has not been vaccinated still has a virus that is high-risk and does not suggest visiting”.

According to him, Kosovo should be focused on finding new markets, even though problems are big in terms of licenses.

Panja even says Kosovo must first have a recovery plan, EO reports.

“We are focused on finding new markets so that we do not depend solely on the Kosovo market. To be able to export, you need to have qualified workforce that we currently have a big problem with”.

We have a problem with multiple licenses. There are many points we need to focus on, but first we need to have a recovery plan. It is the law of recovery that expires at the end of the year and has yet to be done. Credit must be increased with preferential rates for the production sector that is very important and should assist to find new markets”.

In addition, according to Sahin, two issues of importance that Government should have priority is providing as many vaccines and economic recovery as possible.

Sahin stressed that Kosovo will need four years of recovery and return to the state of 2019.

There are two problems that we still do not know the country's government strategy of how to approach. It's the problem of vaccination and recovery. In the current trend, the vaccine in Kosovo will not be completed for at least three to four years. And if there is no strategy for developmental recovery and strategy for the country's economy, for boosting investment and receiving funds from different world financial institutions and clubs, Kosovo will need four years of recovery and the return of a 201950 situation.

“I doubt that the country's government does not have enough people of economic and health experts to make common strategies so that the time of vaccination and exit of the crisis is shorter. Gastronomia is one of the sectors in the economy that participate. These days they don't have where to sell local products even dairy products, and their price has fallen, and this will poor family businesses”, he said.