Macedonia benefits most from Kosovo tax on Serbian imports

Koha Ditore daily reports that export of products from Macedonia to Kosovo last year increased by about 40 per cent, after Pristina in November 2018 imposed a 100 per cent tax on imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the newspaper, according to MIA correspondent from Pristina, during the year 2019 goods were imported from neighboring state in Kosovo worth 239 million and 306 thousand euros, while a year earlier that value was over 63 million less, ie It amounted to 172 million and 176 thousand euros.

According to Kosovo Customs official data, Macedonia benefited from the Serbian import tax at the end of 2018, given that one year earlier, in 2017, Macedonian exports were worth 156 million and 498 thousand euros, or about 10 percent. less than in the year the tax was introduced.

Apart from Macedonia, Albania has also benefited from Ramush Haradinaj’s government’s decision to impose sanctions on imports from Serbia and BiH. Kosovo Customs data show that the country imported goods worth 222 million and 547 thousand euros in 2019, which is about eight percent more than in 2018, when the value of imports from Albania was 206 million and 492 thousand. EUR.

On the other hand, on the anniversary of the introduction of the tax at the end of November 2019, Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic announced that the losses of the Serbian economy due to the 100% impact in the past year amounted to around 400m euros, ie that during that period, total Serbian exports were less than 50m euros, while a year earlier it reached over 440m euros.

Source : sitel.com.mk