Prishtina, 31 October, 2023
Dear Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Dear citizens,
Today, as an item on the agenda, we have the approval of the budget for the year 2024, which at the same time is the third annual budget that we are approving, after those for the years 2022 and 2023.
Since taking office in March 2021 until now, we have faced more global challenges than any other Government since the post-war period.
The odds of a pandemic like that of Covid-19 are one in 100 years. Energy prices that we saw last year were never seen before and perhaps the closest comparison is with the oil crisis in the 70s, so such a crisis can happen once in 50 years. Double-digit global inflation was last seen in the 80s, something that happens once every 40 years.
A crisis of this magnitude is often enough to bring a Government or a country to its knees. Fortunately for us as a Government, three global crises, with little chance of happening together within one mandate, and yet, we did much better than others predicted.
We managed the pandemic, overcame the energy crisis, and supported citizens to face inflation. And not only did we manage these crises successfully, but we also managed to grow the economy and jobs like never before during these difficult years.
For these 31 months of our mandate, we added 60 thousand jobs to the economy, where half of the employees are young men and women under the age of 25. This is as a result of policies and successful measures to increase the economy and employment where, among other things: we supported farmers with increased subsidies, we supported local producers with subsidized investment loans, we supported businesses and employment of women, we supported businesses and employment of communities not -mostly, we supported the information technology sector with scholarships and vouchers for courses, we supported families without anyone employed through the Government for Families measure, we supported the employment of people with disabilities, and we also directly supported the employment of young people through the Superpuna program.
No Government before ours, and not even all of them taken together, have made so many support measures for the creation of new jobs. The increase in jobs is continuing, and with it the economy or gross local production, which for the first time will exceed the figure of 10 billion euros in the coming year. This is something to note anyway.
We also increased budget revenues without changing any fiscal policy.
The projection for tax revenues for 2024 is 2 billion and 705 million euros, and when compared to the last year before the pandemic, which is 2019, it seems that we are collecting 1 billion and 43 million euros more, or about 63% more a lot. Before we came to the Government, the tax collected from corporations did not exceed the figure of 95 million euros per year as it was in 2019, and with our Government for 2024 it will be 217 million euros or more than doubling, without changing the rate corporate tax.
A stronger economy with more jobs also enables us to increase the budget. This budget will go to an increase in the support of priority sectors and to the implementation of our government program.
For the year 2024, the budget of the Republic of Kosovo will be 3 billion and 314 million euros.
For the public sector, we said at the beginning of this year that the salary coefficient for 2024 will be 110 euros, and we are making it happen. So we are increasing salaries in the public sector as we have said. All budget calculations in the salary category are based on the increase of the coefficient. And, the total budget for salaries is predicted to be 805 million euros, or about 30% higher than the budget 5 years ago.
With this budget, we are giving special care and importance to security protection, therefore for the year 2024 we have increased the number of policemen by another 500, and the number of soldiers by another 600. The budget for the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the first time will exceed 216 million euros, and for the Ministry of Defense it will be over 153 million euros, or about 370 million euros for the sector, which is about 22% more than the year 2023 in which we are currently.
Even education will have the necessary support, for the construction of nurseries, the implementation of reforms, and the support of young women and men with scholarships. Together with the grant allocated to the municipalities, the budget support for education will reach 370 million euros or about 20% more than in 2023.
Health continues to be our priority, and investments will continue to be made in renovating hospitals and purchasing state-of-the-art equipment so that our loved ones do not need to travel abroad to seek treatment. Therefore, for the year 2024, the budget of ShSKUK has been increased by 25%, while for health as a sector as a whole we have allocated over 340 million euros, including the grant for municipalities.
Work and justice has been our slogan, so we have also increased the budget for this department. Compared to the year 2023, we have allocated 31% more budget to the Ministry of Justice so that the reforms started in justice are implemented to the end.
This year we received the best news in decades for our athletes, that we will be the host country for the 2030 Mediterranean Games, and this should be accompanied by the corresponding investments in sport and infrastructure that we have committed to. That’s why we have increased the budget like never before for the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, allocating over 58 million euros for capital investments only for the year 2024, and the same trend will continue for the following years, because we want to show the world that Kosovo is becoming a serious competitor in sports.
We will continue to support new capital investments in road and railway infrastructure, in new economic zones, in dams and water supply networks, and in new energy capacities. For this, we have foreseen a budget of 860 million euros for capital investments.
With this budget, the investment in digitization and e-governance that we will implement together with the World Bank is foreseen.
Likewise, the implementation of the social reform will begin next year, which will affect the families that most need support from the state.
We are completing the picture of economic development with the Sovereign Fund, which has already taken shape through the draft law submitted to the Assembly, and with the basic capital foreseen in this budget, we will also give it the necessary substance for operationalization.
We must not forget that this budget is not only for the Government, but also for the municipalities. For the year 2024, we have allocated 742 million euros for the municipalities of Kosovo, of which 635 million euros are grants given to the municipalities by the Government, while another 107 million euros are own revenues that the municipalities collect.
So, dear citizens, this budget belongs to everyone, for everyone, because it is everyone’s taxes that fill the common budget of our state for our society.
As the Government, it is our duty to manage and redistribute the money we collect in such a way as to ensure sustainable economic development, the addition of new jobs, and well-being and dignity for all citizens of the country.
There are other challenges that await us until the end of the mandate, but we will successfully overcome them, because good ideas and a fair program lead us, and we do not lack will and conviction.
Thank you!
And now, we are moving to the formal aspect of proceeding with the extraordinary agenda today, the review of the draft law on the budget allocation for the budget of the Republic of Kosovo for the year 2024, for which I invite the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Mr. Hekuran Murati to take the floor.