Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo publishes external sector statistics showing a EUR 471.92 million current account deficit through April 2025

The Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo released external sector statistics for the first quarter of 2025 and balance of payments data through April 2025, reporting a current account deficit of EUR 471.92 million, up 7.11% year on year, driven mainly by a wider goods trade deficit. The goods trade deficit reached EUR 1.74 billion (up 20.49%), with exports at EUR 278.99 million (down 2.85%) and imports at EUR 2.02 billion (up 16.62%). Offsetting factors included a services surplus of EUR 510.61 million (up 42.54%), a primary income surplus of EUR 131.63 million, and a secondary income surplus of EUR 622.85 million (up 3.54%), supported by remittances of EUR 403.51 million through April (up 2.35%). Preliminary estimates put May remittances at around EUR 126.58 million, taking the January to May total to EUR 530.08 million, with inflows mainly via IFJB (56.67%), commercial banks (13.91%) and other channels (29.42%). In the financial account through April, assets recorded a negative balance of EUR 30.87 million while liabilities showed a positive balance of EUR 327.34 million; direct investment in Kosovo totalled EUR 276.78 million (up 0.42%) and direct investment abroad rose 93.99% to EUR 111.06 million. The international investment position in the first quarter showed international assets down EUR 110.21 million and liabilities up EUR 134.86 million, leaving totals at EUR 8.13 billion and EUR 10.50 billion respectively at end-March; gross external debt stood at EUR 4.20 billion at end-Q1, down EUR 29.06 million from the prior quarter, including public sector debt of EUR 934.38 million (22.26% of total) and private sector debt of EUR 3.26 billion.