Tourism, remittances, crime: a snapshot of Kosovo’s economy
By Naomi Conrad
Post-independence Kosovo resembles a hap-hazard construction site. Three and four storey houses mushroom along the newly-asphalted main roads. Homes and Motels are built quickly and cheaply form cement and bricks, many yet to be painted, while in the country side rusty Soviet-era tractors pull carts loaded with watermelons and hand-picked peppers.
The small country’s economy is equally patchy and in construction, still largely dependent on aid, remittances and organised crime. And yet, with the world debating independent Kosovo’s legal status, its Ministry of Trade and Industry has given thought to diversification and public relations. A small Tourism Department, whose website has yet to function properly, has published a glossy brochure which aims to promote tourism in the region and enthusiastically praises its skiing slopes and beautiful mountain ranges. Small travel agencies have begun to cater for Kosovans living in the capital and abroad, as well as the weekend trips of KFOR soldiers.
As yet, however, the tourism sector remains embryonic. Large swathes of the countryside are as still impassable due to unexploded landmines, remnants of the ethnic wars. The country, whose Orthodox monasteries are visited mainly by small groups of Serbian pilgrims are closed off behind barbed wire and guarded by armed KFOR soldiers, has yet to attract more than the occasional intrepid backpacker in search of an unusual passport stamp.
Thus, as Ahmed, a Pristina taxi driver, explains, most of the money which pays for the construction boom and expensive cars originates abroad. Thousands of Kosovans who left as guest workers, and fled during the conflict, work in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the United States, send back remittances, money from abroad. These, however, have been hit by the financial crisis, as many jobs on construction sites or the automobile sector are being shed in Western Europe and the US. Furthermore, many Kosovan refugees have returned, some voluntarily, others expelled by their host countries with the end of the war.
As yet there is little regular work for the returnees, particularly young people. A business student at Pristina University returned from Switzerland with his family three years ago, to partake in the rebuilding of the new country complains that “there is nothing to do, no work, no future, nothing”. Many want to leave again and find work abroad. More enterprising people open small businesses: one young business graduate has begun selling honey wine, scrap yards dissect cars imported from Western Europe andthe road to Pristina is lined with small car washing facilities, which cater for the many black Mercedes which glide along the roads.
The expensive cars are a stark symbol of Kosovo’s obscure economy: According to UNMIK, organized crime accounts for 15 to 20 percent of the country’s economy. Drugs, particularly heroin from Turkey and Afghanistan, transit through Kosovo on their way to Western Europe, as a recent report by the US State Department found. People trafficking is also an issue. Some politicians have been accused of connections to organised crime networks and corruption is rife. The European anti-fraud office OLAF has found that much of the EU’s aid to the country has been wasted in corruption and embezzlement. EU parliamentarians are calling for further enquiries into how EU aid money is spent in the regions.
Visitors, however, are highly unlikely to encounter any political corruption or organised crime. And yet, it is hard to feel entirely at ease in Kosovo. In Pristina KFOR adverts on buses and billboards along the street remind of a war that is not long ago and tensions that simmer below the surface: 10 years of uneasy stability, a picture of a KFOR helicopters against a sunset. The government may have to build lasting political and social stability and seriously fight crime and corruption before the country experiences any significant increases in tourism and its economic benefits.
This article was commissioned by WES