Over 11 new businesses were registered in Kosovo from January to October of this year - a figure that the incumbent government sees as a signal of economic vitality.
For experts, however, the numbers don't tell the whole story.
Economic growth, according to them, is not measured by how many businesses are opened, but by how much is produced, sold, and exported.
Acting Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati, described this trend as "an indicator of the good health of the economy."
Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti, spreading the same message, said that during their mandate "the number of new businesses registered has increased year after year", presenting this as evidence of an expanding economy.
But, experts in the field of economics, Lulzim Rafuna and Shpend Ahmeti, see another reality behind these optimistic figures.
According to them, the structure of new businesses does not constitute evidence of sustainable economic growth.
The vast majority of them are micro-businesses - often with limited employment and production capacity.
In October alone, out of 1.125 new businesses, 1.116 were micro-enterprises with up to nine employees, while only nine were classified as medium-sized businesses - with 50 to 249 employees, according to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics.
No large enterprises, with over 250 employees, were registered that month.
The President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, Lulzim Rafuna, says that this model has been the same for years: many small businesses are opened, but few of them grow and diversify the economy.
"Most are start-ups. It is positive that young people, in recent years, are showing increasing interest in opening businesses, but these may not have an immediate impact on the overall economy," says Rafuna.
Shpend Ahmeti, co-founder of the Data4X platform, which collects and analyzes economic data, says that economic growth is not measured by the number of new businesses, but by the real turnover of businesses.
Data4X data shows that from January to September of this year, there was a decline in turnover precisely in the manufacturing and trade sectors - the two real engines of the economy.
The only sector with increased turnover was electricity supply.
Full news at REL.
