Kosovo: Trust Fund to remains frozen

Prishtina, 24 January 2007 – The Trust Fund, which contains the €250 million collected from the privatization process, is unlikely to be used by Kosovo commercial banks for economic development. The Fund remains frozen at least until June this year.

“After receiving a response from UN Legal Office in New York, a report was drafted and now everything is pending,” a source inside UNMIK told Lajm. According to the same source, UN Legal Office’s response was that in order to benefit from this Fund banks should fall in Category A, which is not met by any of the local banks in Kosovo. Reportedly, after receiving this answer the Government of Kosovo has made no efforts to reach any compromise to soften the criteria so that also local banks would benefit from the Fund.

A commission on the allocation of the Trust Fund to commercial banks was established last year. The commission, comprising representatives from UNMIK, the Government and some banks, did not manage to set the criteria that banks should meet to benefit from the Fund.

ECIKS