AmCham urges a more careful spending of the public money

Prishtinë, June 14, 2018 – Kosovo’s private sector has continuously faced various challenges in its development since the independence of the country. Nevertheless, Republic of Kosovo has fortunately maintained its macroeconomic stability, while keeping the public debt within the recommended levels.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo recognizes that this stability has been maintained with the tax rates not being increased, and despite the fact that the country has continuously faced high trade deficit. In this regard, AmCham believes that the cooperation with the International Monetary Fund has led to remarkable results, thus helping the Government in maintaining the positive performance in terms of fiscal policies and economic stability.

However, AmCham would like to express its concerns over the recent tendencies of increasing spending of the public money. This also includes the decisions taken without a proper consideration of the financial implications for the country’s budget. AmCham also voices its concern over the uncontrolled spending of the reserve funds.

AmCham Kosovo believes that this behavior increases the burden on the country’s limited budget, and would ultimately lead to the necessity of collecting more tax revenues from the private sector. This would, in turn, deteriorate the tax system in Kosovo and would ruin the prospects for a stronger private sector and the increase of foreign direct investments.

Finally, AmCham urges a more careful management of the public finances, emphasizing the need for capital investments, which should be considered as a backbone of a stronger private sector, the economic development and generation of new jobs.