Diaspora for seven months sent over 750m euros to Kosovo

Central Bank of Kosovo data (BQK) on foreign remittances shows that from January to July 2023, compared to the same period last year, our diaspora has submitted 81.5m euros more.

For this period, the highest value was during May with 126.6m euros of the total of over 751.8m euros.

Referring to the delivery channels, the CEC says that 429.6m euros have been transferred through the remittances agencies, while the rest through commercial banks and alternative channels.

As far as the shipments are concerned, Germany is the state where money is mostly sent towards Kosovo. From there came 37.4 percent of the shipments, followed by Switzerland by 18 percent, the United States at 7.4 percent, Austria at 4.9 percent, and Italy with 4.5 percent.

The slowdown in consumer growth has largely affected consumer purchasing power, due to price hikes, while the main sources of financing such as remittances, new consumer loans, public consumption, etc. noted growth”, the CEC report said.

The value of remittances in the first quarter of 2023 has seen 12.4 per cent growth compared to the same period in the preceding year. The state-based remission structure remains unchanged: Germany, which has a turnout of 38.8 percent of the remittances sent out, followed by Switzerland at 17.2 percent, and the US at 7.6 percent”, follows the report “Three-month economic assessment, first quarter 2023“.

According to the CEC, the slowdown in economic activity in the Eurozone may have had an impact on these shipments, as an introduction to our country's economy.

The “considering that much of the accepted remittances originate in the Eurozone or 57.2 percent of the total, slow down economic activity in the Eurozone may have implications on this entry to the Kosovo economy”, the CEC concludes.