Kosovo mulls over introducing lek as second currency

TIRANA, July 31 – A proposal to introduce the Albanian lek as an official currency in neighbouring Kosovo to facilitate trade exchanges has received mixed reactions from Kosovo and Albanian officials and experts.
The Albanian lek is very little used in Kosovo which since 2002 uses the euro.
Kosovo economic experts say making Albanian lek as a second official currency in Kosovo is not a barrier to increasing trade exchanges between the two countries.
Ibrahim Rexhepi, the director of the Strategic and Social Research Center – STRAS says lek is not a forbidden currency in Kosovo and that Albanian currency poses no danger to trade exchanges between the two countries because Albania uses Euro as a second currency.
“If Kosovo wants to make lek the second official currency institutionally, then stronger institutional and legal commitment is needed,” Rexhepi, tells Kosovo’s daily Telgrafi.
Meanwhile, Kosovo government officials say they will examine the possibility of lek but still strongly believe in the European common currency.
“It’s really important what approach developed economies in the EU have. But we will also examine the possibility of lek,” says Bedri Hamza, Kosovo’s Finance Minister.
The idea to introduce lek as an official currency in Kosovo has been initiated by Albanian ruling Democratic Party MP Mesila Doda who believes the initiative would bring positive impacts in increasing trade exchanges and lower exchange rate risks. Doda says the initiative is not aimed at unifying currencies between the two countries, but making Lek official in Kosovo.
Artan Gjergji, an Albanian economy professor says that making lek an official currency in Kosovo would be a step backward at a time when the whole Balkans is involved in the European integration process and as a result adopting Euro as a currency.
Introducing the Albanian lek is also expected to find Kosovo prepared in case the existence of the single European currency is endangered due to the Eurozone crisis.
According to INSTAT data, Kosovo ranked the third biggest destination of Albanian exports in 2011 with an estimated 14.7 billion lek, (Euro 103 million), up 47 percent compared to 2010.