8 hours agoEC: Kosovo suffers from unemployment, high migration
Periskopi(2 years ago)
(2 years ago)Poor results in the labour market, limited progress in infrastructure, single-source contracts, are some of the economic findings in the Progress Report for 2024 drafted by the European Commission for Kosovo. “The labour market continues to suffer from very low turnout, high unemployment and large gaps [...]
The work market continues to suffer from very low turnout, high unemployment and large gender gaps. In 2023 the share of young people (15-24) not in employment, education or training increased to 33.4%, from 33% to 2022, which is still the highest in the Western Balkan region. Poor labour market results contribute to continued high levels of migration. The results of the labour force survey continue to be published with major delays”, the report said.
In addition, the Progress Report also says that Kosovo has made limited progress in improving road and railway infrastructure. The report said there was no progress on the Pristina highway, Merdare, as well as rehabilitation works on the 10th Iron Line.
“Reporting period, there has been no progress on the Pristina highway, Merdare. The rehabilitation efforts for the 10th Iron Line continued at a slow pace. The trend of signaling and telecommunications systems, which is of high priority, is still delayed, due to lack of funding. The transport system still faces some security challenges, insufficient maintenance and poor administrative capacity of regulatory institutions”, the report said.
The country has also been blamed for the large number of stem contracts (use of negotiated procurement procedures) especially in the Kosovo Energy Corporation.
Kosovo must improve its planning and reduce the use of negotiated procurement procedures. To reduce the risks of misuse and fraud, it is important to ensure full transparency of strong reasoning that explains the price - giving decision and to keep track of auditing. In 2023, the negotiated procedures without publishing the contract's announcement were 13.5 per cent, with a majority of contracts linked by the Kosovo Energy Corporation”, the report said.
The report mentions that the service sector continued to dominate economic activity in 2023, providing 46% gross local production. According to the report, EC recommendations from last year have been implemented in part and whether Kosovo should improve the quality of public spending.
