The government adopted a €2 billion budget during its last meeting held Friday evening.

Finance minister Hekuran Murati noted that the new budget is much higher than the revised one in 2021. He emphasized that the main goal is to revive the economy by boosting production and employment.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti declared that for the first time, more than €100 million will be allocated to the transition of the Kosovo Security Forces into a regular army.

Currently, the KSF is only tasked to act as an emergency-disaster force, but in 2018, Kosovo’s parliament voted to update it into an army.

In addition, Kurti vowed increased support for students by offering over 2,000 scholarships.

“With this budget, we have allocated €45 million to support new mothers. We made education free and we’ll hand out two thousand scholarships for students of excellence. With this budget, we’ll support science and research. We also added €35 million for pensions and social assistance schemes, so that no one receives a pension of less than €100”, declared Kurti.

Another major plan will be the construction of the Prizren-Tetova highway, which links Kosovo to North Macedonia.

€2 million for the Presevo Valley

The government of Kosovo also allocated €2 million for the Presevo Valley.

The gesture was welcomed by political leaders in Presevo, including mayor Ardita Sinani who hailed it as “great news”.

Former mayor Shqiprim Arifi declared that this has been a long time request, adding that the Albanian government is also set to share another €4 million for the Presevo Valley.