The municipalities showed more success than the Government for Capital Investment Accountability

Kosovo Communist Association Chairman Saban Ibrahimi, in an interview for Online Economy, has said Kosovo's municipalities, despite challenges from the central level, have managed to spend 75 percent of the means destined for capital investments.

He has said 2024 will be one of the years challenging for the local level in terms of new capital investments, since the Kosovo Parliament has not taken into account municipalities' proposals for new projects, which, according to him, would affect local economic development.

Ibrahimi has said that municipalities have shown remarkable results in spending in capital investments, where, according to him, if compared to capital investments spent from the central level, the difference is two-way.

“against the challenges facing municipalities in 2023, as regards capital investment expenditures, municipalities have exceptional results and compared them to capital investments spent from the central level the difference is two-digit between the local level and the central level. This means that municipalities have worked well, also budgetary planning has drafted them with the greatest possible seriousness, but also implementation of them despite the challenges caused by the central level, meaning not only by the minister but by central-level institutions, municipalities have managed to make capital investment spending at extremely good percentages. The municipalities have spent over 75 percent of capital investment means in 2023 and the gap between local level spending compared to the central level of difference is two digits”, he said.

Abraham also mentioned in this interview the challenges municipalities faced during the past year. Just mention the central level failure with that bar. He expects improved co-operation this year.

“The challenges have been in place since the beginning of last year, when the finance ministry wanted to take financial resources from the municipalities from its own revenues to over 100m euros. Then that bill was turned into law, but there was still dilemmas where it was observed by the AKK that about 37.5m euros of central level wanted to take the local level of 100m euros, and after our response the central level has convinced that those financial means should be passed to the local level. The other problem was then property tax where by the beginning of 2023 the central level in 2022 you had re-evaluated property where the fact of 2023 property taxing citizens had doubled in some cases, in some cases, the value has probably been higher than the doubled”, Ibrahim said.

And then the problem was that the central level of blame was to throw it to the municipalities, where some cases were highlighted as if municipalities had done it. Then the level requirement remained to make forgiveness up to 100 euros, where arbitraryally the central level, the Ministry of Finance commissioned the law on real estate tax without even a consul with the local level and placed Article 5 where it allowed or allowed municipalities to receive an apology of up to 100 euros. Then Kosovo's 23 municipalities did not make decisions or consider these opportunities in the Municipal Framework for pardoning property taxes, and that was like an alarm for the central level that when you make decisions affecting the competencies of municipalities that affect the municipal budget, we should be consulted because laws came to implement”, he said.

We believe that municipalities have also sent a very powerful signal in terms of co-operation with the central level, where this co-operation according to the absolute majority of mayors has been at every level. This lack of co-operation has also been reflected in the European Commission's 2023 progress report saying that local and central-level relations should be improved, so there are no good relations”, Ibrahim said.

Ibrahimi considers that this year, 22 Kosovo municipalities will have a lack of financial means for new capital investments in proportion to last year. Some will lack up to 700 thousand euros and some less.

“As far as budgeting this year is concerned, 22 Kosovo municipalities will lack financial means for new capital investments in proportion to last year. We're going to have municipalities that are going to be short on 700 thousand euros, at 500,000 euros, at 400 thousand euros. Another problem, however, is the implementation of the collective contract. The municipalities will face many problems this year, this consisting was also made by mayors at our last meeting, where they stressed that 2024 would be one of the most challenging years for the local level of new capital investment”, Ibrahim said, as he criticised lawmakers for failing to co-operate with Kosovo municipalities. He says the Assembly did not listen to demands that the local budget level for 2024.

The “will have the inability to take even new financial means because almost for the first time, the 2024 budget law has occurred to be adopted in the Kosovo Parliament and that not even a new project will be taken into account by Parliament with the first hearing and second hearing. The municipalities have prepared and proposed dozens of projects that would affect local economic development as far as schools are concerned, but these proposals have been denied in full by the Kosovo Parliament. The municipalities have concluded that this year will be one of the most challenging years in terms of capital investments”, Ibrahimi stressed.