Energy reductions are causing business losses

The chairman of the Kosovo Alliance of Business (AKB), Agim Sahin, has raised serious concerns about the continuing challenges business is facing in Kosovo, including problems with electricity supply, as well as the lack of effective dialogue between the private sector and the government.

Speaking of the current situation, Sahin identified three main problems that are directly affecting business operations, according to him, are sudden power cuts, which harm production processes and cause losses, high energy prices, which list Kosovo among the countries with the most expensive energy in the Balkans, and lack of support for sectors in the crisis.

There are problems that are obvious about electricity supply is that we have power outages without warnings to businesses. This directly affects the activity of local producers, the halting of production, and there it causes vari and loss of raw materials under way. And third, we have the most expensive energy in the Western Balkans. There are these three problems that are constantly in 2024 and at the beginning of this year businesses are facing”, he said.

He also warned of a political and economic crisis during 2025, which he views as a difficult year for the country's economy. Sahin stressed that election processes, both general and local elections, could overshadow economic priorities.

Kosovo will have a major political and economic stalemate in 2025. We're in an election year, and once the election is over on February 9th, we'll have local elections in autumn. Where the political vision will focus on candidate elections, the struggle to get as many votes as possible, while the economy is at risk of being left behind as it has been in recent years, and we have a weak economy, an economy that is dependent on imports. So when all of this comes together and the problem of dialogue, we see the year 2025 as a bad year for economics and economic reforms to get out of this difficult economic situation, whether business or citizen, or Kosovo state itself”, he has said.

He called for the future government to have a comprehensive strategy to address these problems, including increased dialogue between the private sector and the government for resolving emergency problems, drafting an anti-poverty strategy and economic development strategy, with particular focus on crisis sectors, such as production.

Sahin has also cited reviewing the commercial property law, whose tariff has increased by up to 300% over the past year -- a problem Sahin said should be resolved within this year.

Our requests for the new government are to establish dialogue with the private and state sector, which has been missing in the past. Establish strategy for combating poverty. At the same time, strategy to develop the economy and with particular emphasis on sectors that are in crisis such as the production sector. And the vast sector in order for us to be with our most competitive power in the Kosovo market, but also in export and in other countries when we claim to take as market. And fiscal policy reforms, which will be like supporting, for local producers, also subsidising initial producers, startup, which would help build small businesses that have projects but have no financial opportunity. The government needs to look at the commercial property law, which has increased by 200 to 300 percent in the past year, this will have to be annulled by”, he said of Online Economy.