The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kosovo (DHTIK), through a statement, clarified the meeting called by the Ministry of Finance, Labor, and Transfers. DHTIK announced that no decision was made at this meeting regarding the level of the minimum wage.

According to DHTIK, the meeting was consultative, and the participating parties shared their opinions and proposals on this issue.

“DHTIK is not against increasing the minimum wage, but it has requested that such a decision should only be made when Kosovo has functional and strong institutions, a thorough analysis of the economic situation is conducted, and the proposal for the minimum wage comes through the Economic and Social Council, not through the Ministry of Finance,” the clarification states.

According to DHTIK, making an ad-hoc decision would only complicate the economic situation, with citizens being the most affected.

Acting Minister of Finance, Labor, and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, held a meeting today with representatives of the business community to discuss the issue of increasing the minimum wage.

Currently, the minimum wage in the country is 350 euros gross. This increase took place in August of last year, a few days after the entry into force of the Law on Minimum Wage, which had set the minimum wage at 264 euros gross. Before the new law came into effect, the minimum wage in Kosovo was 130 euros for workers under 35 years old and 170 euros for workers up to 65 years old.

Meanwhile, on October 26, acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, during the extraordinary session in which the formation of the new government failed, also mentioned raising the minimum wage to 500 euros.