Economic experts: Inflation hit the economy, little help of the government to citizens

Economic experts estimate that the year 2022, apart from the coronavirus pandemic, was marked by an economic crisis and inflation that reached 19.2 percent, reports Lajmi.

Professor Muhamet Sadiku says that 2022 was a difficult economic year, both for countries in the world and for Kosovo, because inflation hit citizens the most.

"This year, too, we have a very negative impact of the global electricity crisis, and all these international challenges were reflected in the rise of inflation in all countries. This increase in inflation also affected Kosovo and it is estimated that it was around 18 percent, which is a big blow to the living standards of the citizens of Kosovo. This most affected the social structure, pensioners and in general the consumer basket of a Kosovar family... We must also take into account the 'muscles of the government to intervene in mitigating inflation, because the Government of Kosovo does not have the capacity to fight against international inflation, but it has to fight to amortize the negative impact of inflation on the population of Kosovo. The population of Kosovo, especially some social categories, had one-time support twice a year, which is far from what could be said to have systemic support. The private sector is a generator of economic growth, and the more developed this sector is, the more opportunities there are to fight inflation," emphasizes Professor Sadiku.

The President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kosovo, Skender Krasniqi, expressed his disappointment with the Government of Kosovo for not supporting companies and workers in the private sector.

Krasniqi believes that the coming year will bring positive changes, especially in the economic aspect.

"The year 2022 had many challenges, which were unexpected, but we hope that in 2023 we will have positive developments because in the year we are leaving behind, we faced not only the covid pandemic, but also Russian aggression in Ukraine, which indirectly affected us in Kosovo, with a lack of products and enormous price increases. Also, during this year, businessmen faced major financial problems, which are still ongoing, and unfortunately the Government of Kosovo failed to aid the economy, as well as private sector workers, who were waiting for support. We expected to have support as a business with different packages, even for bank loans. As a Chamber of Commerce, we constantly asked for support... We expected better cooperation with central institutions, either at the level of the prime minister or ministers, but that was not the case," said Krasniqi.

And the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo Lulzim Rafuna said that the high inflation affected the citizens and the economy of Kosovo.

"Inflation in 2022 has reached a high, double-digit rate or the highest since independence until now. This was a big challenge for the business. Another challenge was that businesses did not have a chance to recover after the pandemic period because the supply chain was disrupted during the pandemic. Although a positive trend began a year after the pandemic, there was a war between Ukraine and Russia, which indirectly affected our business, because our companies were connected to European businesses and were directly affected by the war. Then energy insecurity happened and the next challenge was the lack of manpower," he emphaisized.

According to the World Bank report, inflation in Kosovo rose to 19.2 percent. This year there was a slowdown in economic growth, and expectations are that the gross domestic product (GDP) rate for 2022 will be between three and four percent, while in 2021, that growth was 10.7 percent.