26/05/2016
The Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, visited today the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo where he was hosted by the Governor Bedri Hamza and other CBK leaders.
During the visit, Prime Minister Mustafa who was accompanied by the Minister of Justice, Hajredin Kuçi and Minister of Trade and Industry, Hykmete Bajrami, praised the work and results of the CBK.
Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo, Bedri Hamza said that during the meeting with Prime Minister Mustafa it was discussed about general economic developments in the country, with special emphasis on the development of the financial sector.
"The financial sector and the banking sector in Kosovo continue to be well capitalized, liquid and profitable. Loans have increased compared to the same period of the previous year, the growth was 8.8 percent, which is also a contributor to economic growth. The sector is sound, non-performing loans are on the decline of 5.8 percent, the lowest in the region. It is extremely positive indicator the interest rate reduction on loans, where the average interest rate on the loan at the end of March fell to 7.4 per cent. The sectors that have greater growth and greater participation are the agribusiness and manufacturing, where jobs are generated contributing in the trade deficit reduce and in general the sector is characterized by a positive development," said Hamza.
The CBK Governor also said that private enforcement have contributed to the improvement of non-performing loans and in facilitating the work of banks.
"We have also opened the possibility for other companies to provide credit guarantees to insurance companies, which have the same value as credit guarantees that give banks, because they are companies that are supervised and financed by us. We are also working on the amendment of several laws, in order to improve banking sector and insurance companies environment. We need a strong, sound and profitable banking system that supports the real sector and the economy," said Governor Hamza.
Prime Minister Mustafa: Stable banking system is helping economic development in Kosovo
Prime Minister Mustafa said that the banking system in Kosovo is stable, positively assessing the Central Bank management that helped the economic development.
"We have now reached that banks provide qualitative loans to the economy and qualitative terms for economic development. We have favourable developing trends because the assessment of the Central Bank, are the same with those of the World Bank, regrading the economic growth for the last year between 3.5 and 3.6 percent and also a greater economic growth for next year," said Prime Minister.
Further, Prime Minister Mustafa said that there is also a good trend of tax collection and budgetary stability and that this is expected to continue in the future referring to the positive trend of new registration of new firms and investment.
"These are very good news, because our fundamental objective is to develop the economy. We want to have a very close cooperation with the Central Bank in order to push forward the processes for the economic development of the country," said Prime Minister Isa Mustafa.