Residents of Strpce two months after the dinar ban in Kosovo: The situation is getting worse

The situation in the municipality of Strpce is getting increasingly difficult two months after the CBK regulation banning the use of dinars. The elderly and socially disadvantaged people are facing the most difficulties, as it is challenging for them to travel to central Serbia on a monthly basis to collect their incomes.

As time passes, the situation with dinars is becoming increasingly difficult for the residents of Strpce, and the fact that there are no Serbian goods in stores or medications from Serbian manufacturers complicates matters further. 

Svetozar Janicijevic emphasizes that he is in a difficult situation, especially because he has a wife whom he takes care of and for whom he cannot procure medications as before from local pharmacies.

"It is very difficult, I have a wife who cannot take care of herself and receives home care, and we both have social incomes. We do not have money to go to the administrative crossing. We hope for improvement and that something will be resolved. There is no 90 percent of Serbian goods in stores. The worst thing for me is that there are no medicines from Serbia that my wife uses, instead, we get substitutes from Croatia, Slovenia, but it's not the same. Every doctor recommends that my wife takes the medications she used before, so we have to go to Serbia to pick up the prescriptions," Janicijevic said.

Stojanka Davidovic points out that she has spent all the money she had in the previous period and has no way to go to the nearest place in Serbia to withdraw money.

"It's been the third month without any income for me and my son. I spent what I had, I cannot go to Serbia because I have no means. I cannot take the medicines, I take whatever is available from Macedonia because I have no one who could bring them from Serbia," Davidovic says.

Mita Djurinac emphasizes that this situation has hit pensioners particularly hard.

"To go to Serbia, we have to pay a taxi. It is not good for us pensioners at all, nor for others working in education or healthcare," Djurinac says.

Momcilo Staletovic from Berevce emphasizes that there are no dinars, and he notes that there is no Serbian goods in stores or medications either.

"It's difficult because we have to travel to Bujanovac or wherever is closest, spending money, and we are old, we cannot. Serbian goods are missing, firstly, we don't have Plazma biscuits for children and other necessities, and the worst part is that there is no money, so we cannot even buy," Staletovic says.