Will there be new packages to help businesses

Government officials say they are already preparing a new economic package.

Kosovo's Economic Ode Chairman Berat Rukiqi said Kosovo has failed to help businesses recover economic losses, compared to the Western Balkan countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Albania.

According to him, the emergency package has fulfilled its role, but the country is now in a different situation and business demands have changed.

Now they've changed business needs. There are not requirements from all sectors for direct financial assistance. More should be focused on those sectors that may have a potential growth, as is the case with sectors or companies that have potential for export. There are many requirements for labour force skills and demand for projects in the field of energy efficiency and digitisation”, Rukiqi told Radio Free Europe.

So far, the Government of Kosovo has helped businesses with a fiscal emergency package worth 180m euros. This package was introduced immediately after confirming the first cases of coronary and isolation measures.

By the end of 2020, however, Kosovo's Assembly had adopted the Law on Economic Resurgency, worth 222m euros. This law aims to bring benefits to businesses and ease the financial situation following losses caused by the coronary pandemic.

The implementation of this law, led by former Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, has begun in January this year, and from this value to businesses, the health system, for social schemes, education and culture are spent around 100m euros.

With the election of the new government, led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, in the month of March of this year, it was said that the new law for recovery has not been implemented due to, as it was said, the high budgetary cos and revision of law”.

Opposition subjects in the Kosovo Assembly have also called on the Kosovo government for private businesses to be treated seriously after the inoculation of citizens and conversion to normality after the pandemic, because the current packages of recovery have been insufficient for the development of their business activity.

Bedri Hamza of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, at one of the Kosovo Assembly sessions, has asked the government to make the quick revision of the budget and the Law for Economic Recovery, in order to start distributing aid to businesses.

Kosovo, according to him, is away from countries in the region in terms of financial assistance.

North Macedonia has approved six packages, with close to 900m euros for businesses. The government of the Republic of Albania around 13 billion dollars (over 1 billion euros) contributions to the economy, Montenegro's Government has helped businesses and its citizens in many of its one billion euros”, Hamza has declared.

All Western Balkan countries have created budgetary policies and have used budgetary incentives to combat economic downturn and to provide support to families and businesses. According to the World Bank, after the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Serbia has announced the largest package of assistance to the economy and citizens, with a direct impact on the budget of 6.7 percent of the local Bruto Product, followed by North Macedonia at 3.3 percent, 2.9 percent of BPV Kosova, 1.6 percent Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 1 percent of the local Brutograde industry has helped businesses Montenegro.

Economics professor Safet Gerjaliu said it is the time of the end when Kosovo must learn from the experiences of countries in the region as far as aid has been distributed to businesses and citizens to recover losses from pandemic.

If we are supposed to have rapid economic recovery, the government should be flexible, find funding opportunities”, Gerxhaliu says.

Finance and Transfers Minister Hekuran Murati, ahead of deputies in the Kosovo Assembly on Monday 15 June, has said a new package of economic recovery will be published within days.

You have faith, you have patience, and we will soon present to you the revised budget and the package of economic recovery, and together, with everyone's constructiveness, we can be sure, because developing the country's economy, creating new jobs, is not just a political subject, but it's a matter of the future of this country”, Murati has indicated.

The inability of businesses in Kosovo to exercise their activity normally last year affected citizens' employment and income, thus directly affecting the economic downturn.

The World Bank's latest report says that growth in countries with low income economies this year is projected to be slower in the last 20 years. These countries in this economy are projected to grow 2.9 percent in 2021 before they reach 4.7 percent in 2022.