Pristina, 5 June, 2025
Dear Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Dear employees of the Prime Minister’s Office and the media,
Dear citizens,
Today we have a not very long meeting, but from which we will come out with very good news.
Because good government brings good news. Our good governance is continuing with policies that focus on the well-being of citizens and the development of the country.
We are starting with good news for all young mothers.
Since the beginning of the government mandate, as we had promised, we started the scheme of allowances for mothers on maternity leave at the level of the minimum wage – six (6) months of 170 euros for unemployed mothers and three (3) months of 170 euros for employed mothers, on top of the payment they already receive under the Labor Law. So far, about 70 thousand new mothers have benefited from these allowances.
Since we now have the new minimum wage, it is time for this to be reflected in the allowances for mothers on maternity leave.
Today, at the 261st meeting of the Government, we will approve the increase in the monthly amount of the allowances from 170 euros to 325.9 euros – the net value of the new minimum wage.
So, for all mothers on maternity leave, starting this month, the monthly allowance will increase to 325.9 euros. This represents an increase of 91.7%, or almost a doubling of the allowances.
For six (6) months, the increased allowance translates to 1,955.4 euros, and when we add to this the monthly allowance for the child, which is at least 20 euros per month, or 120 euros for the first six (6) months, then it effectively turns out that the Government supports each new mother with 2,075.4 euros.
So, for each child born, the Government’s support for the first six (6) months alone exceeds the value of 2 thousand euros.
This has never happened before. With this level of support, we can compare ourselves with many other countries that are larger and stronger economically than us.
The other good news is for employed mothers.
The Kosovo Agency of Statistics, this week, published the average salary level for 2024, which has marked a significant increase in recent years, reaching 639 euros.
In addition, today we will approve the average reference salary, which serves to calculate the payment for three (3) months at the level of 50% of the average salary – which is an obligation of the Government for each employed mother.
So, in addition to the payment of 70% for six (6) months from the employer, employed mothers will benefit from support for the other three (3) months from the Government in the amount of 319.5 euros – which is 50% of the average salary. Compared to the current level of 223 euros, the new support represents an increase of 43.3%.
In other words, each employed mother, in addition to the payment from the employer, will have three (3) months of maternity leave payment from the Government in the amount of 319.5 euros per month, as well as – within the framework of the maternity allowance scheme – another three (3) months of 325.9 euros per month. When monthly child allowances are added to this, it turns out that employed mothers will also benefit from support of over 2 thousand euros from the Government, starting in the first nine (9) months after giving birth, in addition to the payment they receive from their employer, which is 70% of their salary for six (6) months.
The third good news is for civil servants.
As we have said and as we have approved in the Budget Law, the salaries of public servants this year will increase twice by 55 euros, to complete the increase of 110 euros for everyone. The first increase has already started to be implemented since January of this year. The second increase will start to be implemented from July, as foreseen in the Budget Law. Today we will make the decision on the allocation of additional budgetary funds to all budgetary organizations, to cover the cost of this increase. After technical preparations, the implementation of the second phase of the increase will start to be applied next month – and thus, the monthly salaries of public officials, for over 80 thousand public officials, will be 110 euros higher than they were in December 2024.
Based on data published by the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, last year the average salary in the public sector was 755 euros. With this latest increase, which we will approve together today, the average salary will reach 865 euros per month starting next month. This represents an increase of 48.1% compared to the average salary of 584 euros in 2019 – the last year before the pandemic.
Thank you.
