The Minister of Entrepreneurship, Industry and Trade in Kosovo, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, has provided details on how the Draft Law on temporary measures for essential products in cases of special market destabilization will be implemented in practice.

After its approval by the government, she said that the board established by the Assembly will precisely define a list of products subject to price monitoring, which cannot be freely traded above set limits.

According to her, the fundamental purpose of the law is to protect the interests of citizens in cases where the market becomes destabilized following global crises.

At a press conference after the government meeting, she also said that setting profit margins on fuel is already producing concrete results.

“The decision on setting profit margins on fuel has worked. We have monitored the market and there has been confusion about the price. We have not set a price cap, but rather a profit margin linked to the import price. Accordingly, if on a given day the customs price after excise and VAT was 1 euro and 60 cents, the margin could go up to 1 euro and 74 cents. Most operators have used a margin of 2 to 8 cents and have not applied the maximum price. There have been four cases of violations of this decision, and they are under procedure,” she said.

Part of the conference was also Minister of Health Arben Vitia, who said that the Draft Law on mandatory health insurance reduces inequality in the provision of services.

According to him, the bill includes the entire population and its main goal is universal access to healthcare services. He said it will speed up the achievement of universal health coverage, improve citizens’ well-being and health, and reduce poverty and inequality in healthcare provision.

He also explained how contributions to the health insurance fund will be made.

“For all employees in the public and private sectors, there will be a rate of 3.5 percent from the worker and 3.5 percent from the employer, which will be paid as contributions to the mandatory health insurance fund. This will not replace the current budget, which will still increase, but in addition to it there will be premiums collected from this total 7 percent. Today, we have a budget of around 400 million euros, and with the premiums, in the first year it is expected to increase by another 150 million euros, reaching a budget of 550–600 million euros,” he said.