The Decentralisation and Municipal Support (DEMOS) Project and the GAP institute presented the report Budget Planning of the Municipalities for 2025,’ which analyzes the initial phase of budget drafting for the next year in 15 municipalities. The presentation took place during a roundtable discussion attended by representatives from the municipalities included in the report, as well as donor representatives.
Drilon Shala, representative of the DEMOS project, talked about the support provided by the project in improving the capacities of municipalities in budget planning, improving access to public information and engaging citizens in decision-making processes. “These efforts have aimed especially at the inclusion and integration of citizens’ demands, especially of marginalized groups in municipal budget planning”, he added.
Presenting the findings of the report, Bekim Salihu from the GAP Institute said that most of the municipalities that are part of this report spend half of their budget (about 50%) on salaries and wages, while regarding capital investments, these municipalities have planned to implement 670 capital projects, for which a budget of 88 million euros will be allocated. Of them, only 17 million (19.3%) will be spent for new projects, while 71 million euros (80.7%) will be used for projects that are ongoing from 2024. Also, referring to the analysis conducted, there is no clear connection between the annual budget of the municipalities and the medium-term priorities. Also, most of the municipalities have not presented the budget risks for 2025, including contingent liabilities inherited and those that may arise from court decisions.
“The positive thing is that most of the projects are planned outside the city centres, including localities inhabited by minorities. Meanwhile, from the analysis of the budget hearings and the approved Medium-Term Budgetary Frameworks (MTBFs), a low participation of citizens in them is observed, where the gender gap in representation in these consultations remains high, with most participants being men. However, a positive step of the municipalities in relation to the budget hearings is the acceptance and inclusion of several citizens’ requests in the budget planning for the following year”, Salihu emphasized.
Durim Halilaj from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities singled out some of the challenges that municipalities encounter, especially in early budget planning where, in addition to short deadlines, collective contracts are also included, especially in the education and health sectors, as well as complaints to the Public Procurement Review Body (PRB). He also added that municipalities have shown good progress in increasing citizen participation in budget hearings/participatory budgeting.
Municipal officials from the directorates for finance and budget as well as other actors contributed to the roundtable discussion. In addition to this analysis, DEMOS and the GAP institute, in the coming months, will also prepare a comprehensive report regarding the practices of the municipalities for the distribution of the budget for capital investments in localities and villages during the period 2018-2023, as well as publish the comparative infographic for the election promises based on the fulfilled fields.
You can read the full analysis of the budget planning here.
