76273 World Bank Disburses €3 Million to the Deposit Insurance Fund Take-Off Preparations WITH THE €3-MILLION disbursement to the Kosovo’s new deposit insurance system pro- recently established Deposit Insurance Fund tects depositors against losses of their depos- The World Bank welcomes Kosovo’s of Kosovo (DIFK), the World Bank has its in the case of a bank failure. As such, objective to provide firms—within a helped to protect the savings of about 90 per- DIFK insures the deposits of natural and two-year horizon—with a business cent of depositors. legal persons—initially up to the maximum climate attractive enough to have the On October 9, 2012, in a first operation of coverage level of €2,000—and compensates country ranked among the top 40 in this type anywhere in each insured de- the world. This is a very ambitious the world, the Finan- positor within 60 objective, but one that can be achieved. cial Sector Strengthening days of a bank fail- Clearly, there is no single policy to and Market Infrastruc- ure, thereby rein- achieve this, except for the continued ture Project (FSSMIP) forcing the stability commitment and dedication to a policy — after the successful of the financial sys- program of related reform measures. implementation of tem. related reforms by the The World Bank is If graduates acquired the skills sought Central Bank and the working closely in the labor market, if firms found a Ministry of Finance of with Germany’s level playing field and had a sufficiently the Republic of Kos- development bank long time horizon within which they felt ovo — provided the (KfW)—the other comfortable to implement important funds as DIFK seed important donor to investment decisions, the private sector capital. DFIK— to ensure would increase its international com- The Governor of the that activities are petitiveness and profitability, providing Central Bank of Kos- well-prepared and households with additional employment ovo, Gani Gërguri, coordinated. KfW opportunities and salaries that reflect considers the DIFK has provided DFIK rising productivity. Within such an very important for CBK: Looking over savings with grant funds in Kosovo’s financial environment, Kosovo could unleash a the amount of €4.5 stability. million and continues to support DIFK virtuous circle that would lead to the ―Although the banking system in Kosovo is through consultancy services. improvement in citizens’ overall qual- sound and stable, the creation of a well-funded The FSSMIP represents additional financing ity of life. In many areas, the World and state-of-the-art deposit insurance scheme to the original Financial Sector Technical Assis- Bank can—and does—support reform is vital for our economy and will help to pre- tance Project, a US$2-million technical assis- efforts to improve Kosovo’s business serve financial stability in Kosovo,‖ Gërguri tance grant from the International Develop- climate beyond the categories reflected in has stated. ment Association (IDA) aimed at enhancing the Doing Business survey. This The World Bank’s Country Manager for Kos- the CBK’s capacity to oversee the financial newsletter aims at informing its readers ovo, Jan-Peter Olters, has agreed with the system, including insurances and the microfi- of ongoing developments, with its title, inherent importance of this project. ―By in- nance sector, and its development in Kos- Check-In, having been chosen with suring household savings, Kosovars’ confi- ovo. dence in the banking sector should increase The additional financing (US$6.85 million) purpose. It refers to various airport and allow for deeper financial intermediation, was approved by the Board on June 14, 2011 procedures just prior to departure; and generally a robust leading indicator of long- and became effective on January 25, 2012, we do see our role in supporting Kosovo term economic growth,‖ said Olters. thereby broadening the initial project objec- to prepare for its take-off towards a tives to enhance the financial sector market prosperous (European) future. With infrastructure and make the financial sector this, I welcome you to the inaugural more efficient and resilient. Three new com- issue of Check-In, the new monthly ponents were added, namely, (i) establishing a newsletter of the World Bank Office in Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS); (ii) Kosovo, posted also on our website establishing a Business Continuity Center www.worldbank.org/kosovo. (BCC); and (iii) providing the aforemen- tioned DIFK seed funding. Jan-Peter Olters, Country Manager Kosovo Most Active in Improving Business Climate In Southeastern Europe KOSOVO HAS MADE significant progress ment for shareholder approval of related- ister and Minister of Trade and Industry, in improving the business climate by party transactions, while requiring greater Mimoza Kusari-Lila, saw the progress as a removing obstacles to doing business disclosure of such transactions in annual reflection of efforts already made but in- and streamlining business regulatory reports. It has been made easier to sue di- sisted that Kosovo remained committed practices. A new report released by the rectors when such transactions are prejudi- and was working diligently towards achiev- World Bank and IFC has recorded the cial. In addition, Kosovo made starting a ing its goal of being ranked among the top impact already made, showing that Kos- business easier, notably by eliminating the 40 countries in the Doing Business report in ovo’s reform efforts have outpaced those minimum capital requirement and business two years’ time: ―The reforms we have of neighboring countries—improving its registration fee and streamlining the busi- done and are continuing to do give confi- ness registration processes. dence that we will achieve this goal.‖ She In addition, Kosovo has underlined that, in order to further improve made considerable progress the business environment, there needed to in dealing with construction be a greater cooperation between the cen- permits. During the presen- tral and the local levels of government. tation of the report, the Doing Business analyzes regulations that ap- World Bank’s Country Man- ply to an economy’s businesses during their ager for Kosovo, Jan-Peter life cycle, including start-up and operations, Olters, referred to Kosovo’s trading across borders, paying taxes, and ranking this year as a turning protecting investors. The aggregate ease of point. He noted that Kos- doing business rankings are based on 10 ovo was the most dynamic indicators. Doing Business does not measure Doing Business reformer in all aspects of the business environment that Central and Southeast matter to firms and investors, such as the relative ranking by 28 places to 98 of Europe in the period mid-2011 to mid- quality of fiscal management, other aspects altogether 185 countries surveyed. Ac- 2012. He called upon Kosovo to uphold of macroeconomic stability, the level of cording to Doing Business 2013: Smarter the reform momentum, to fully implement skills in the labor force, or the resilience of Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enter- all reforms already in the process and to financial systems. Its findings have stimu- prises, Kosovo has been the country that start other reforms. If momentum contin- lated policy debates worldwide and enabled made the biggest improvement in the ued, results would become evident in the a growing body of research on how firm- strength of investor protections over the form of investments, profits, employment, level regulation relates to economic out- past year. Kosovo introduced a require- and income. Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Min- comes across economies. Model School in Pristina Sets Standards for Teaching and Learning AS OF NEXT year, around 1,500 children in age, took the shovel as well during the foun- grades 0–9 will be attending classes in a dation stone ceremony, saying: ―I congratu- brand new model school. This is an impor- late the Ministry of Education and the Mu- tant step towards improving access to educa- nicipality of Pristina for the successful com- tion for the children in central Pristina, eas- pletion of preparations, leading to the start ing the pressure from other schools in the of the construction of the model school, area. The design will define standards and which will bring innovation in the design safety-and-access guidelines to be applied for and utilization of school space.‖ future school constructions in Kosovo. The school will have seven subject-specific The World Bank-financed Institutional Devel- laboratories, a library, and modern sports opment in Education Project (IDEP) has allo- facilities. The school will be constructed cated around €2 million for the model with a particular focus on (i) using recycled school. The Government of Kosovo co- materials and domestic products; and (ii) finances the construction of the school with ensuring the highest standards of energy an additional €0.9 million. The Municipality efficiency. of Pristina has provided the land on which The model school is one component in the the school is being built. World Bank-financed €8-million IDEP that During the foundation stone ceremony in supports a variety of education sector re- Hands-on support mid-September 2012, the Minister of Educa- forms. Within this context, MEST has devel- tion, Science and Technology (MEST), oped a school map—comprising a compre- Ramë Buja, and the Mayor of Pristina, Isa hensive inventory process of all pre- dren from the poor households—are Mustafa, praised the efforts that went into university school facilities—that will form needed. The recently adopted Country the construction of this school, expecting the foundation for the five-year investment Partnership Strategy for 2012–15 fore- that teaching and learning in this school plan in the education sector. Additional ef- sees the continuation of support to would be exemplary. The World Bank’s Di- forts to improve the quality of, and access Kosovo’s education sector. rector for Southeastern Europe, Jane Armit- to, education—particularly for girls and chil-