25 Jul 2008
Kosovo budget to exeed one billion
According to newkosovareport.com an increase in fund allocation will bring Kosovo’s annual budget above one billion for the first time ever.
“The revised Kosovo budget will increase by 52 million euro since its original approval. Part of the considerations during the review were the aims of the Kosovo government, the state of tax collection during the first six months of this year, and the reallocation of funds between ministries and budgetary agencies to better execute the predicted budgetary expenses,” said Minister Ahmet Shala.
At a donors’ conference July 11 Western nations pledged a total of 1.2 billion for Kosovo’s reconstruction projects over the next two years.
I am curious to see how well that money is distributed given recent EU sanctions on Bulgaria and a condemnation of Romania for corruption, embezzlement and general misuse of EU funds. The European Union has fronted about half of the economic burden for rebuilding Kosovo, and given the unstable nature of the fledgling nation’s new government it will be interesting to see how cleanly the money moves through the pipeline.