November 16 (SeeNews) - Kosovo's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to decrease by about 7.2% in 2020, mainly due to the restrictions on economic activity introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's central bank said on Monday.
The measures aimed at preventing the spread of the Covid-19 disease have negatively influenced consumption and investments in Kosovo, central bank governor Fehmi Mehmeti said in a press release.
The decline in consumption in Kosovo led to a decrease in imports, which fell 9.9% on the year to 2.03 billion euro ($2.4 billion) by July, the governor said.
Foreign direct investments totalled 202.6 million euro by July 2020, compared with 147.7 million euro recorded by July 2019.
Mehmeti also said Kosovo's central bank plans to introduce a new measure to facilitate lending to the private sector during the pandemic by reducing the regulatory requirement for banks' capital.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in October that it expects Kosovo's GDP to decrease by 7.5% this year due to the pandemic.
($ = 0.8442 euro)