Kosovo Public Finance Review : Fiscal Policies for a Young Nation
Kosovo is Europe s youngest country, both in terms of history and demographics. As part of the former Yugoslavia, Kosovo became a separate territory under United Nations administration in 1999, and declared its independence in 2008. By February 201...
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Format: | Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/20345957/kosovo-public-finance-review-fiscal-policies-young-nation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20756 |
Summary: | Kosovo is Europe s youngest country,
both in terms of history and demographics. As part of the
former Yugoslavia, Kosovo became a separate territory under
United Nations administration in 1999, and declared its
independence in 2008. By February 2014 it had been
recognized by 106 UN member states including 23 out of 28 EU
members. Kosovo is a potential candidate for European Union
(EU) membership and is currently negotiating a Stabilization
and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European
Commission. From 1999 Kosovo has been using the Deutsche
Mark and, since 2002, its successor currency, the Euro, as
legal tender. Kosovo is a landlocked country in South East
Europe (SEE) with about 1.8 million inhabitants and a large
migrant population based mainly in Western European
countries. Kosovo has taken great strides to rebuild an
economy destroyed by the collapse of Yugoslavia and the
1998-99 war, with sound fiscal numbers and budgets focused
on capital expenditure. In general, Kosovo s headline
macroeconomic indicators are also relatively sound. Growth
has averaged over 4 percent since 2000 and remained positive
after 2008 during the global crisis years. Household survey
evidence for 2006-11 suggests that economic growth
benefitted all sections of society but the poorest 40
percent of the population saw consumption rise faster than
wealthier groups. Public and private investments have made
large contributions toward economic growth over the last
five years as efforts to rebuild the economy continued. |
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