Kosovo has the highest unemployment rate in the Western Balkans, the World Bank and Vienna Institute for Internal Economic Studies said in a report published on Tuesday.

The report said that the overall unemployment rate in the region dropped from 16.2 to 15.3 percent. The unemployment rates range from 12 percent in Albania and Serbia to 29 percent in Kosovo.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development Nenad Rikalo met with the Director of the World Bank Office in Kosovo, Marco Mantovanelli, with whom he discussed the current processes in the development of agriculture, as well as the goals of the ministry in order to further strengthen this sector.

As announced by the Ministry, Rikalo thanked the World Bank for its support to the agricultural sector that given concrete and significant results.

Growth in Kosovo is projected at 3.6 percent in 2016, down slightly from 3.9 percent in 2015, and is forecasted to reach 3.7 percent by 2018, according to the latest Southeast Europe Regular Economic Report (SEERER), launched today in Brussels.

In a recent article, the US-based magazine Power Engineering International wrote that Kosovo is in urgent need of replacing the old Kosova A power plant that causes a high level of pollution with a new plant that would also eliminate ongoing energy problems. Kosovo government has expressed confidence that the New Kosovo coal-fired power plant will win final approval for funding from the World Bank.

The air quality in Kosovo is far away from European standards and exceeding the allowed rates. Among the biggest polluters in Kosovo are considered the power plants of the Kosovo Energy Corporation, but also the old cars and coal used for heating during the winter, Koha Ditore reports. The risk from the polluted air had alerted the World Bank, who, through a survey conducted earlier in the year, said that within one year there are 800 premature deaths in Kosovo due to air pollution.

Kosovo delegation headed by Minister of Finance Avdullah Hoti, is participating in the regular annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington.

World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Cyril Muller completed his first visit to Kosovo today, which focused on learning first-hand about Kosovo’s growth opportunities and development challenges. He participated in the discussions related to the Systematic Country Diagnostic for Kosovo, and the recently adopted National Development Strategy for the 2016-2021 period.

Kosovo Minister of Finance, Avdullah Hoti, today signed an agreement with the director of the World Bank Office in Kosovo, Jan Peter Olsen, on a loan of 11 million euros to improve conditions in the education sector. Kosovo Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Arsim Bajrami, said that this loan will help in raising quality and strengthening the capacity of higher education in Kosovo. Education is one of the important areas on which the World Bank has invested.

The Ministry of Economic Development and the company Contour Global reached an agreement for building a new power plant in Kosovo. The agreement was reached in the United States. “After a great engagement and the last visit of the Minister of Economic Development, Blerand Stavileci, to the United States, the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) team, World Bank and Contour Global reached an agreement on items that were subject to the negotiations, thus opening way for the execution of the agreement which will award the American company the Preferred Bidder status.

Fahrije Hoti is beaming over jars of red pepper spread and fresh green pepper in cream cheese in a house-turned-pepper processing plant.  “We are the only 100% woman-run and staffed enterprise in Kosovo”, says Hoti, a 44-year-old woman farmer. Hoti, who manages the Krusha agriculture cooperative, has reason to be proud. The cooperative has helped its 40 women employees rebuild their lives in the wake of the tragic 1998-99 war in Kosovo.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/10/15/in-the-aftermath-of-war-women-farmers-in-kosovo-rebuild-their-lives