OEAK: Political crisis risking foreign investment in Kosovo

Zeka said previous experiences show that any political stalemate has reflected negatively in the economy.

“Historically, every time we've had political cramps, that is, procrastination in institution formation, mainly in post-election periods, I have here in mind 2014, 2017, 2019, that is, it has always reflected on the growth rate for that particular year. Similarly last year, when we had almost a year of political blockade, until the December 28th election, we had a lower rate than the projected growth rate - 2025. I hope not, but still expectations are that such a low rate will be in 2026, as well as this one due to the extension of, namely, the political crisis, since it is already in question of a crisis, since political parties were unable to find the consensus for electing the new president or president of the Republic”, he said.

He stressed that institutional stability is the key condition for attracting foreign investment and that political uncertainty decoupled investors.

Foreign investors need stable institutions, need stable environments, need representatives of state institutions they can talk to and pay their vows to, and at the same time feel that their investments will be safe and will not be affected by any crisis or political uncertainty that is characterizing our country. I hope that the upcoming elections as soon as they are done fairly, after that there will be no delays to ask either at the Constitution of the Republic Assembly or at the founding of the new government and electing the country's president or president”, he said.

Zeka added that the lack of functional institutions also affects communication with interested investors.

And so that these investors who are attending today's conference of American investors have anyone to talk to. What's also important is that government institutions, central-level institutions, stop blocking municipalities, in this case against the city of Pristina, for walking these capital projects, and I'm saying this by starting with the troubled past, namely, often over this decade, the government at the central level, not only this last but the previous governments, have made blockades to the capital projects of the city of Pristina, but other municipalities of”, he said.

He stressed that, despite global crises, Kosovo and the region have the potential to attract investments.

Still, the various conflicts in various areas of the world may have an impact on growth, as it were, a bit of reluctance of foreign investors to expand, but it should still be stressed that at the same time, regions that are at peace, such as the Western Balkan region, can use this opportunity to attract foreign investment. We have, at least Kosovo has new labor powers, has good labour-educated powers and can exploit this case, similar as has happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, to promote potential for attracting foreign investment and exploit this situation for attracting American investment and other investments from Western European states, which are also the Allied states of the Republic of Kosovo”, he said.