Page 100 - SE Outlook Regions 2024

Bank Kosovo (RBK), said in an interview with bne IntelliNews in autumn 2023.
Kovacic describes a sector that is “sound, liquid and profitable” as well as increasingly competitive. “Over the past years, several banks entered the Kosovan market, leading to the establishment of a competitive banking sector. The banking sector has managed to maintain a high level of capitalisation and liquidity and low level of non-performing loans, which as result increased the loss absorbing capacity of the sector over the years,” says Kovacic.
According to the central bank, the total assets of Kosovo’s commercial banks stood at €7.17bn at the end of October, up by €11.7mn from the previous month or by 0.2%.
As of the conclusion of October 2023, the collective capital of commercial banks stood at €838.3mn. Loan provisions experienced a decrease of 2.8% compared to the preceding month, settling at a value of €10.4mn.
The total value of gross loans extended by Kosovan banks increased by an annual 13.3% to €4.8bn at end-October 2023. Commercial banks' combined deposit portfolio totalled nearly €5.9bn at the end of October, up 11.1% from the same month in 2022.
12 banks currently operate in Kosovo, of which nine are foreign-owned. They have 215 offices and employ 3,992 people. The concentration rate, which measures the assets of the three largest banks, is 52.1%.
The aggregate net profit of Kosovan commercial banks totalled €141mn at the end of the tenth month of 2023.
5.5.3 Industry
In August 2023, the turnover index for various industry sectors, compared to the same month in the previous year, exhibited the following changes: a positive growth of 6.6% in the processing industry; a substantial decline of -36% in electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; a -36% decrease in water supply, waste management and treatment activities; and a -22% contraction in the extractive industry, encompassing mining and quarries, according to latest statistics institute data.
In the third quarter of 2023, the economic activities that garnered the highest preference in this quarter in terms of newly registered companies were: wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, with 617 (21.6%), professional, scientific, and technical activities with 334 (11.7%), accommodation and food service activities with 228 (10.1%), construction with 275 (9.6%) and manufacturing with 272 (9.5%).
100 SE Outlook 2024 www.intellinews.com