The President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, Lulzim Rafuna has emphasized the need for immediate actions by the Government of Kosovo to protect and improve the economy of Kosovo. In an interview for KosovaPress, while he says that there is a need for reforms in fiscal policies, he considers that the government should help local businesses more, since according to him, there is a significant decrease in exports, which he says also damages the country’s economy.
Regarding public investments and capital projects, Rafuna calls on the government to start implementing projects as soon as possible to stimulate and promote economic growth.
He also expresses his concern with the measures issued by the European Union against Kosovo, where it has already been a year. While he says that the demands coming from international partners and allies must be implemented by the Government, he considers the progress of the elections held in the north as positive, but emphasizes that it is important to coordinate with allies in order to address other challenges that affect the country’s economy.
Regarding the increase in the price of consumer products, which according to the data of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics in March and April of this year, the overall harmonized index of consumer prices is higher at an average of 2.3 per percent compared to March last year, Rafuna mentions the need for the intervention of financial policies to avoid the increase of those prices.
He affirmed that the good news is that inflation is decreasing, but he also emphasized the need to analyze and eliminate additional costs that affect price increases.
He added that the drop in capital investments is directly affecting businesses.
He also expressed concern about the decline in exports and called on the Government to lobby as much as possible to improve the country’s image to ensure stability and a favorable environment for doing business.
The export of goods in February of this year was worth 70.3 million euros, whereas the import was 467.8 million euros, which is a decrease of 3.9 percent for export, as well as an increase of 19.7 percent for import, compared to the same period of 2023.
Data from the Foreign Trade of Goods in Kosovo indicate a higher trade deficit of 25.2 percent in February 2024, in relation to the same period of 2023, namely in the amount of 397.4 million euros, compared to the deficit of 317.5 million euros in 2023.
According to the report of the Kosovo Agency of Statistics regarding Foreign Trade statistics, export covers import by 15 percent.
