There was the Albanian, the German, and the Swiss.
The German had a salary of 3,000 euros, spent 2,500 and saved 500.
The Swiss man had a salary of 5,000 francs, spent 4,000 and saved 1,000.
The Albanian had a salary of 500 euros, expenses of 700, and went to the sea twice a year.
"How?" - I don't know, the Albanian said.
This is an anecdote, but if you look at some "economic analyses", some economists make you think that this is entirely possible.
One of these analyses is when institutes or television economists talk about Kosovo's trade balance and say it's minus six billion euros. What do they do? They go to the Kosovo Customs website, look at imports and exports, do a plus-minus and come up with the figure.
This is a very banal and inaccurate method. Kosovo's economy is about 45 percent services and most of these services are exports. This export does not go through customs and for this reason analysts do not see two billion euros as too big for our economy.
If someone wants to look at their balance sheet - and this also applies to the state - they look at the bank account: how much money has come in and how much has gone out. If we collect all the bank accounts of Kosovo into one, then the balance sheet would be much different from the impression created by the figures obtained only by Kosovo Customs.
So, according to the CBK, for the period January-November 2025, in million euros:
- trade in goods: -4 641;
- trading in services: +1 945;
- primary and secondary income (remittances, salaries, pensions, rent and other income from abroad): +1 949.2
In the end, Kosovo's balance sheet is negative by around 740 million euros. According to analysts, this is supplemented by cash remittances and diaspora expenses during their stay in Kosovo, which do not go through international transfers or customs. In fact, these together could exceed one billion euros, which means that Kosovo's balance sheet is in plus rather than minus.
This becomes even more understandable when we see that Kosovars are among the largest investors in Albania. With “alarming” figures that Kosovo’s trade balance is minus six billion, this would not be possible. Even institutes like GAP, and even economists who appear on television, should raise the level of analysis and not find the simplest way of analyzing just for design and “likes”.
There are two things in the Central Bank figures that require special attention.
The first is the positive export of services of about 1.9 billion euros. This is not a small number and should be included in any serious analysis. Kosovo has more opportunities to export services, due to its young population, than industrial or agricultural products. Focusing on high-value services increases the standard and income per person.
The second thing is to identify what these services are and how they can be increased, in order to close that minus of about 700 million in the balance sheet and turn it into a positive one. Are they IT companies? Call center [call center]? Selling plane tickets? Or something else? The alarming rhetoric that "we import too much from China" has prompted some political figures to propose that we not buy from China, but produce them ourselves. Meanwhile, from China come iPhone-t and almost all technology. Leaving aside the export of services is not a technical error - it is ignorance.
To summarize: that Albanian who earns 500 euros and spends 700 does not lay golden eggs instead of poop, but has a secondary income. Someone lays ceramic tiles, someone translates, someone makes date entry IN Upwork, and someone goes to their uncle, keeps his papers, and gets another 200 euros a month.
In the end, Kosovo's €730 million deficit is roughly 6.8 percent of GDP. Albania is in a similar situation, while Montenegro has an even higher balance. Based on these figures, Kosovo is not as bad as portrayed by the €6 billion "trade imbalance", which is simply not an accurate analysis.
