The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has said that Kosovo has never 'weighed' more heavily in economic terms than in 2024.

Prime Minister Kurti, in an interview for KosovaPress, commenting on the official statements of the World Bank on poverty and low per capita income, emphasized that the Gross Domestic Product per capita has increased greatly. According to him, GDP in Kosovo has increased by 50 percent compared to the first pre-pandemic year 2019.

Officials of the World Bank for Kosovo have told KosovaPress that Kosovo continues to have the lowest income per capita, compared to the average of the countries of the region and the European Union. Likewise, according to the World Bank, the poverty rate in Kosovo remains high, 19.2 percent. 

According to the World Bank, the country lags behind its neighbors with a Gross Domestic Product per capita that reaches only 5.889 euros.

Prime Minister Kurti also spoke to KosovaPress about the low level of public debt, the increase in electricity prices, inflation and the negative trade balance.

"Kosovo has made great strides of getting out of poverty. The reasons are unclear as far as the general economic situation in Kosovo is concerned. One is that we are a country emerging from the war... What is happening with our government is that we are moving from that centrifugal approach to the centripetal one, the wealth of our country is accumulating. Kosovo has never weighed more heavily economically, but if you look at the Gross Domestic Product per capita, we also have a very large increase. BPV in Kosovo has increased by 50 percent compared to the first pre-pandemic year 2019", Kurti emphasizes.

Regarding the increase in the price of electricity in the country, Kurti emphasizes that this increase has come as a result of the import of electricity at higher prices.

"Since we don't have the capacity to cover electricity consumption, we don't have generating capacity, we are forced to import and in this way we import the price raised abroad... In these four years, inflation has been high, especially in 2022 over 11%, inflation in these four years is about 22%, but more than half of the inflation in this term of our government is in a single year 2022. That was the year more difficult. Meanwhile, in the year 2024 that we just left behind, inflation was around 1.5%, while the last three months of 2024, inflation was below 1%. So now we have a stabilization and we have tried in two ways to address the cost of living", emphasized Kurti.

"The low public debt shows more about a model which should be used as an example by others than it is a concern for Kosovo itself. We have borrowed, but we have borrowed productively and wisely. We didn't take out debt for salary increases, we didn't take out debt out of desperation where the interest rates could be high. It may seem strange, but today there are times when we pay interest on international loans that are lower than those paid by the engine of the European economy, Germany. I believe that the wise policies that we have made in the approach with international financial institutions, today Kosovo has a public debt of only 17 percent of GDP", he emphasized.

Regarding export and import, Kurti said that in 2024 the value of goods exported from Kosovo will reach 1 billion euros.

"Export has doubled, it reached 1 billion euros last year (2024), but at the same time we need to strengthen our businesses even further, because there is not enough market in Kosovo for their growth in economy", emphasized Kurti.

You can find the full interview in the link below: