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16 10 2008 Does Kosovo’s Government have a plan to fight poverty and improve the country’s economy?
How will thousands of Kosovar families who
scrape by with only 93 euro cents per day break out of the cycle of poverty?Does the government have a strategy to
create an environment where its citizens can work rather than rely on social
assistance and charity?
Kosovo is the poorest country in Europe. According to the United Nation’s
latest
statistics, the unemployment rate in Kosovo is around 40 to 46 per cent,
while 15 per cent of the population lives in
extreme poverty, on less than 93
cents per day.
These questions were raised in this week’s “Life
in Kosovo” debate moderated
by Jeta Abazi,
a BIRN journalist.
The debate was held on the international
day of poverty, October 16. To
discuss
these issues were:
Nora Sahatciu-Loxha,
manager of a project for millennium objectives;
Muhamet Gjocaj,
from department for social welfare in the Kosovo government;
Fadil Aliu,
researcher from the Riinvest institute;
Kimete Hoti,
a citizen from the village
of Krusha.
Fadil Aliu kicked off the debate by noting
that Kosovo’s economic hardship is
largely the result of high rates of imports,
lack of private and public investments
and large capital outflows.
“High taxes impede the development of
private business in the country,
whereas our neighbours have introduced very flexible economic measures
for
their producers which translates into economic development,” Aliu said.
According to him,
Kosovo’s government should adopt a more rigorous
economic strategy. In the case
where the country’s neighbours impose high
taxes on Kosovar goods, Kosovo’s
government should respond likewise, he said.
Aliu’s comments were followed with a report
from BIRN’s journalist Alban Selimi,
which showed how Kosovars with a university degree have become dependent
on social
benefits and have been caught up in a spiral of poverty.
It showed how Ali Shala, who graduated from law school 22 years ago,
works as a labourer because that is the only job
that he can find.
“I applied to be a judge’s assistant in court
but they hired someone with a
high school diploma because they had connections
rather than me,” said Shala.
While he said that he must do any work he
can find in order to support his
family,
the 55 year old man also pointed out that after seeing their father
unemployed
his children are discouraged from attending higher education.
Moving back to the debate in the TV studio,
Aliu, referring to World Bank
estimates, said that a modest amount of economic
help could alleviate the position
of some 18 per cent of the population living
in poverty.
Participants noted that 37 thousand poor
families are currently receiving
support from the ministry of social welfare,
while 2400 was taken off the list
this year.
Asked whether this indicates success
in fighting poverty, Muhamet Gjocaj
replied that a large number of those taken
off the list either no longer needed
the assistance or did not fulfil the necessary
criteria to receive support from the
ministry.
“We look at our statistics
annually to see whether some of those families no
longer need to be supported
by the ministry,” he said.
Asked whether the support from the ministry,
which amounts to 40 euro cents
per day is sufficient, Kimete Hoti replied that
it is not sufficient to cover the expenses
of a family with 5 members.
“So we decided to produce pickles. After
having
filled two barrels, it started to look good and so we continued to
produce,” he said.
Hoti pointed out that farmers do not need
social benefits as much as they
need government assistance to help them realize
potential profits, for example
to buy working tools, to support advertising,
transportation and the like.
Aliu said the current government has failed
to introduce policies that encourage
individual initiative. “The current ministry is very passive and the
actual
situation reveals there are no positive results in regard to these
issues,”
said Aliu.
Asked why Kosovo has signed the Millennium
Declaration in 2008, while
regional
countries did so eight years ago, Nora
Sahatciu-Loxha replied that
Kosovoinherited a very bad economic, political and social situation after the
war in
1999.
According to her, Kosovo was
not in a position to take on the kinds of
international responsibilities
signing the Millennium Declaration conveys.
Arguing whether Kosovo has a strategic plan
to fight poverty, which is the
first Millennium Development Goal, Loxha said
that “Kosovo’s institutions
are demonstrating their best efforts to improve the
situation”.
However,
she pointed out that the actual rates of poverty are alarming.
Life
in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television,
RTK and the
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is
broadcast every Thursday,
starting at 20:20.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
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