The statistics of the external sector are published

According to the publication calendar, the CBK published the statistics of the Balance of Payments (BoP) for July 2023, the International Investment Position, the External Debt of Kosovo and Financial Accounts for the second quarter of 2023 (https://bqk-kos.org/statistikat/serite-kohore)

Balance of Payments, until the end of July 2023, was characterized by a current account deficit in the amount of EUR 450.2 million (the deficit amounted to EUR 584.7 million until July 2022).

The deficit of Balance of Trade in Goods amounted to EUR 2.47 billion until July 2023, which is almost at the same level compared to the same period of the previous year, but with a slight deterioration (higher deficit of 3.8%). Export for this period decreased by 6.2% and marked the value of EUR 498.3 million (until July 2022, the value was EUR 531.2 million). Whereas, the import of goods recorded a slight increase of 2.0%, reaching the value of EUR 2,963.5 million (until July 2022, the value was EUR 2,906.3 million).

Service account, which constantly has a positive balance, marked the value of EUR 835.9 million until July 2023, which represents an increase of EUR 166.5 million compared to the same period of 2022.

Primary Income, until July 2023, recorded a positive balance of EUR 58.2 million, which in the same period last year as a cumulative value had the value of EUR 77.2 million. This represents a decrease of about 25% compared to the same period last year, while if we compare only July 2022 with July 2023, we observe that this year we have a transition from a negative balance to a positive one, reaching EUR 12.7 million in July.

Secondary Income Account remains the main contributor to mitigating the current account deficit. Until July 2023, this account recorded an increase of 7.4% or EUR 77.1 million more compared to the same period of 2022, reaching the value of EUR 1,121.0 million (until July 2022, the positive balance amounted to EUR 1,043.8 million).

Remittances represent the main category within secondary income, the value of which, until July 2023, was EUR 753.9 million, representing an increase of EUR 84 million or 12% compared to the same period of 2022.

Financial Account Assets, until July, 2023 amounted to EUR 400.4 million. Financial liabilities marked the value of EUR 566.7 million for the same period.

Direct investments in Kosovo, until the end of July 2023, were EUR 20 million higher reaching the value of EUR 443.3 million (compared to EUR 423.2 million as of July 2022), while direct investments outside Kosovo amounted to EUR 121.0 million (EUR 89.3 million by July 2022).

Investments in foreign securities, excluding the securities within the reserve assets, until July 2023, increased by EUR 267.3 million.

Other investments (investments in deposits, loans and trade loans), until July 2023, recorded a negative value of EUR 207.0 million (negative value of EUR 281.2 million until July 2022).

Reserve assets, until July 2023, increased for EUR 95.7 million, while in the same period of the previous year, the increase amounted to EUR 209.3 million.

International investment position, in the second quarter of 2023, marked a negative balance of EUR 1,739.7 million. This means that the international assets of Kosovo are lower than the international liabilities for this value.

Foreign assets, in the second quarter of 2023,increased for EUR 161.7 million from the previous quarter, reaching the value of EUR 6,801.7 million. The category of direct investments contributed to the increase of assets during this period for EUR 52.6 million, investments in securities increased for EUR 43.8 million, other investments increased for EUR 50.6 million and reserve assets increased for EUR 14.6 million.

Foreign liabilities, in the second quarter of 2023, compared to the first quarter of 2023, increased to EUR 275.0 million, marking the value of EUR 8,541.4 million. Within the liabilities, the foreign direct investments in Kosovo increased for EUR 187.8 million, whereas other investments for EUR 87.2 million.

Gross external debt, which includes the public and private debt at the end of the second quarter of 2023, reached the value of EUR 3,572.3 billion, which marked an increase of EUR 112.9 million compared to the first quarter of this year. The main contributor to the increase in external debt in Kosovo is the private sector, which increased by EUR 95.4 million compared to the previous quarter of this year. While the public debt had an increase of EUR 17.1 million.

Public sector debt has a share of about 24% in the total external debt, the value of which, at the end of June 2023, was EUR 841.8 million. Most of the public debt consists of the government’s external debt, which at the end of June 2023 amounted to EUR 670.2 million, with an increase of EUR 19.1 million.

Private sector debt, at the end of June, marked the value of EUR 2,730.4 million.