Vienna daily: Car wrecks, Kosovo's main export

[Crvena zvezda]

Vienna daily: Car wrecks, Kosovo's main export
27 March 2008 | 17:39 | Source: Tanjug
VIENNA -- Kosovo is rich in minerals, but will remain the poorest part of the Balkans for a long time, Die Presse says.

Mineral resources – coal, zinc, nickel, copper and magnesium – are considered to be Kosovo's main trump card, but they are only a potential source of income for the time being, despite the high world market prices, the Vienna daily writes.

In 1989, the province exported goods worth USD 700mn, while today's exports amount to hardly one sixth of that amount, underscored Die Presse.

The analysis added that "half of Kosovo's current export incomes comes from selling car wrecks".

Die Presse recalled that the majority Albanian population in Kosovo marked its unilaterally declared independence by celebrating for several days last February.

"People believed that everything will improve overnight. However, unemployment and poverty will continue to mark the life in Kosovo," Spend Ahmeti, director of the GAP institute in Priština, is quoted by the daily.

Die Presse adds that economic data on Kosovo is "sobering," particularly pointing out to the fact that the per capita GDP of EUR 1,100 "can only be compared to that of some African countries".