Investor Presentaiton
Opportunities to Foreign Investment in Kosovo
1. CHAPTER ONE - General overview of Kosovo's economy
In this chapter will be discussed about Kosovo's economy and some macroeconomic
indicators that characterize Kosovo's economy.
Economic development of Kosovo in the period after World War II began in conditions
and circumstances of a centralized socialist system that was applied in the former
Yugoslav Federation. In this period Kosovo was a typical agrarian country with no
developed industry where agriculture took part with 70% of the income created by that
time, while only 30% with industrial products. In this period, the overall economy of
Kosovo took place with a growth rate of 5.7%. Characteristic of this period was that
Kosovo did not have the same treatment in economic development as other federal units
even though it was the only country with the lowest level of development.
In the late 1980's, Kosovo's economy, although less developed compared with other
regions of the former Yugoslavia, it had a more favorable economic structure compared
to the previous period. At this time Kosovo's economy was based on the large number of
companies that produce semi-finished products. After the continuous destruction of the
economy, since 1990 and to the end of the war in 1999, production in Kosovo was almost
nonexistent and traditional foreign market had lost. Kosovo, in the period of twelve
years, has gone from a post-conflict environment into a state which is considered to be
under transition. It has passed the reconstruction period by orienting itself toward the
economic development and looking towards European integrations. Yet, an economic
development is not enough to be able to address the challenges Kosovo is facing, such as
high unemployment and high trade deficit rate.
In general², the economy of Kosovo is mainly dependant on the foreign sector. The level
of imports is quite high with growing trends. On one hand, this comes as a result of
1
M.sc. Alush Kryeziu, "Strategjia për Promovimin e Eksportit të Kosovës", ISPE, 15 November 2010,
pp.11-13
2 Program of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo 2008 - 2011, p. 7
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