OEK KB for energy expensive: Businesses leaving Kosovo, while citizens become poor

Kosovo's Kosovo Business Alliance Chairman Agim Sahini and former Kosovo Economic Ode Chairman Safet Gerjaliu said businesses are leaving Kosovo, while citizens are becoming poor.

“The ZERE has proved unfair to all Kosovo economic operators, and its decisions have seriously damaged the economy, productivity, local services, have raised prices due to the rise of electricity prices for the most powerful economic operators Kosovo has. It has now reduced the competitiveness of electricity, impacting businesses to try to find cheaper electricity sites in the Balkans, while some have reduced the number of employees.

All these manipulations that try to make the ZERE are unstable for reasons that this has achieved: it has costing energy by making it the most expensive in the Western Balkans, will cost it again in the autumn and certainly winter will catch us at a price of over 30 percent more expensive. This would markedly burden the consumer basket of Kosovo citizens and businesses. And businesses don't have the only option to stay in Kosovo, but they are looking to carry their capital outside Kosovo”, Sahin said, for EO, broadcast Periscope.

He warned that the rise in prices that businesses are forcing to move capital abroad is affecting rising unemployment.

“We have businesses of foreign investors who have evacuated dozens of workers after the ZRRE decision, we have local businesses carrying production outside Kosovo. The situation is getting heavy, which well tells us how many new production companies have opened up within this period. Businesses will be expensive and expensive, some have reduced workers, as well as the number of exports will decline, because competition is weaker and the number of imports will increase. On average, import will go to over 7 billion euros, which is the largest import in Kosovo's history”, Sahin said.

While economy connoisseur Safet Gerjaliu expresses the view that lack of reforms in the energy market and dependence on imports are leaving citizens and businesses at the mercy of external prices.

The ZRER's “Declarations for reviewing the decision to set up the price of electricity are not surprising, since we have warned there will still be a rise in the price of electricity at the end of the year because we have no decision on free market regulation, we do not have the elimination of bureaucratic procedures to give licenses for local electricity production, whether under the sun, but also in terms of hydro power. We are dependent on import, then the price fate does not dictate Kosovo citizens, but dictates the market. While we will not have economic independence, we will depend on imports that are damaging the private sector, the business sector. In Kosovo much more we've been changing than we have in investing in expanding production capacities, this is a political strategy”, Gerxhaliu said.

He considers the new price increase in energy as disturbing, especially in times of inflation and economic stagnation.

“is going on to raise the energy price at the time we have inflation and price growth and at the time when Kosovo is being emptied. In this race to raise prices, thanks to inflation and corrupt relatives, we have frozen wages in both the private and public sectors. It's very disturbing”, Gerjaliu added.
Days ago at a media conference, Z. The RRE has asked businesses to respect legal decisions, declaring that increases are not wishful thinking, but legal obligation. /Periscope