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Every Thursday starting from 20:30, Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, broadcasts the TV debate show "Life in Kosovo", a joint production of BIRN and RTK.
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Life in Kosovo debates the privatisation process in Kosovo
05 March 2009 The Life in Kosovo show analysed the privatisation process in Kosovo and discussed which state-run companies have already been privatised.
Have public companies which have been privatised failed to accomplish their promise? How many factories have gone bankrupt as a result and how many of them will be retendered? Have firms privatised using the special spin-off method, which set conditions for firms, succeeded? Is the unemployment rate in
Kosovo rising after the bankruptcies of these once-successful companies?
Are these factories under administration and who should be administering them?
To discuss these and other issues regarding privatisation in Kosovo, Muhamet Hajrullahu’s guests in the studio were:
Shkumbin Bicaj, vice director of the Privatisation Agency of Kosova;
Basri Asllani, ex-managing director of LLAMKOS, the zinc metal sheets factory;
Haki Shatri, ex-minister of economy and finance, and ex-board member of the Kosovo Trust Agency;
Artane Rizvanolli, investigator at RIINVEST institute;
Berim Ramosaj, representative from the Parliament of Kosovo.;
Before the debate, BIRN broadcast a Culture in Kosovo report, in which Arif Muharremi reviewed Underground 3, a film by Halil Budakova, and the new National Theatre show Dejzillend, by Agon Myftari.
Basri Asllani kicked off the debate by explaining how LLAMKOS was always regarded as a successful case of privatisation because it was active and operated one month after it was privatised, and continued with the same success for two years.
He also added that the reasons behind his resignation lied solely in the fact that LLAMKOS was not ready to carry the privatisation process further.
“At some point the privatising company bankrupted in 2008, and we in LLAMKOS operated for six month without any help or assistance neither from Kosovo nor from outside from the country,” said Asllani.
Asked whether he felt responsible for the failure of the company, Haki Shatri said that most of the companies privatised with “a special spin-off” failed to accomplish their promises.
“Still,” he added,” I don’t feel responsible or guilty because when this company was privatised it fulfilled the criteria at the time.”
According to Berim Ramosaj, Kosovo compromised when entering the privatisation process in order not to destroy the economy of Kosovo.
“One of the worst compromises that Kosovo made is the fact that I accepted to begin privatisation with this special spin off, a process already proven unsuccessful,” added Ramosaj.
Artane Rizvanolli from the Riinvest Institute explained the findings of their study on the privatisation process of Kosovo. Quoting from the study, Rizvanolli reported a 51 per cent success in meeting investment promises and an 83 per cent success in hitting employment obligations.
“Companies in Kosovo are faced with great difficulties, like access to loans, lack of power supply, an informal economy, unfair competition and corruption,” said Rizvanolli, adding that companies privatised with a special spin off have proved to have lower productivity levels.
Debating on how effective and efficient Kosovo Agency of Privatisation has been, Shkumbin Bicaj from KAP noted that they are reviewing each company that has been privatised with a special spin off too reflect on the current situation and to close the gap created by institutional negligence.
“We have to identify, put them in separate categories and discuss in detail each and every company,” concluded Bicaj.
In the end, Ramosaj concluded that it is better to have a weak privatisation process than not have one at all because that poses the risk of losing all social capital.
After the Kosovo’s Son-in-Law piece, BIRN broadcast the municipal debate Life in Malisheva, where Jeta Xharra confronted the mayor of this municipality, Isni Kilaj.
Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.
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The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.
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