The Serbs in Ranilug failed to withdraw their dinar earnings: We can't feed our children

Those whose lives depend on earnings from Serbia—sick individuals, pensioners, the poor, socially vulnerable, multi-member families, educators, healthcare workers, and all others receiving earnings in dinars from the Serbian budget—attempted today at the post office in Ranilug to withdraw money but were unsuccessful.

Ivica Kitanovic, an auxiliary worker at the Medical School in Veliko Ropotovo, is one among hundreds of Serbs who waited unsuccessfully to withdraw dinars.

"As you can see, there's no money in the Ranilug Post Office, and there's no hope of being able to withdraw it. We can't survive; we can't feed our children," Ivica says for Kosovo Online.

Young parents aren't finding it any easier either. Zorica Tomic from Ranilug is a mother of three children and relies on social assistance and child benefits.

"It's tough for us. We have to go to Bujanovac and Vranje for money, waiting for hours, and we have to take the children with us. It costs us more than two thousand dinars," Zorica says, worried about the future of her family.

Not only are citizens directly affected. The question is how schools, hospitals, and other public institutions will function because they don't receive funds for material expenses, so they are worried about how the system will operate in the future.

Scholarships for students are also a problem, says Miodrag Jovanovic, the Director of the Medical School in Kosovska Kamenica.

After the decision of the Central Bank of Kosovo to prohibit the use of dinars in Kosovo, citizens of the Kosovo Pomoravlje region are forced to travel to Bujanovac or Vranje to access their salaries, pensions, and social benefits. This entails additional expenses and hours-long waits at administrative crossings, and absence from work itself creates additional hardships for users of public services.