TIRANA, February 9– The Central Bank of Kosovo (CBK) announced on Friday that it has launched a toll-free hotline to provide Serbs in Kosovo with more detailed information about its regulation on cash payments, which prohibits the use of the Serbian dinar.
In a media statement, the CBK said that this toll-free line 0800 222-55 “is dedicated to citizens from the Serbian community living in the Republic of Kosovo who need to be informed directly and specifically”.
This decision comes a day after a clash over the dinar between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at an extraordinary session of the UN Security Council on Thursday in New York, United States.
The CBK’s regulation, which stipulates that the euro is the only currency that can be used for cash payments throughout the country, came into force on February 1, despite significant international pressure to postpone its implementation.
The CBK reiterated on Friday that its regulation does not prohibit or limit the acceptance of funds in euro accounts in licensed banks and does not restrict foreign exchange transactions in any currency conducted by financial institutions licensed or non-licensed by it.
“It does not prevent transfers from any state. It does not prevent possession and hoarding in any non-euro currency (including the dinar),” the statement said.
At the UN meeting convened by Serbia, Kurti defended the CBK’s decision that only the euro should be the currency for payments, but Vučić described this decision as an “attack” on the Serbian population in Kosovo.
In the settlements where Serbs live in Kosovo, the Serbian dinar has been in circulation since the post-war period. The Serbian state pays salaries, pensions, social assistance, and other benefits to Kosovo Serbs through a parallel system.
The Serbian president said that with the ban on the dinar in Kosovo, the functioning of key institutions for Serbs in Kosovo is hindered.
“With the decision to ban payment transactions in dinars, the Pristina regime directly prevents the functioning of all medical, educational, social, cultural, and other institutions that enable Serbs to secure the basic provisions for education, medical treatment, and the purchase of medicines for themselves and their families,” Vučić said.
However, Kurti said that the CBK has sent a letter to the National Bank of Serbia proposing an agreement.
He insisted that the decision on the dinar is not intended to harm any group of citizens, but according to him, it protects all citizens of all ethnicities from organized crime, arms trafficking, and money laundering.
“Any other suggestion is nothing but false propaganda aimed at fueling ethnic tensions,” Kurti said at the UN.
Kosovo has been criticized for starting to implement the decision hastily and has launched an awareness campaign for people who have used the dinar until now.
The United States Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, reiterated her country’s request for Kosovo to suspend the implementation of the CBK decision.
“The decision was made without proper preparation or consultation with the local population. We once again call for the implementation of the regulation to be suspended until all procedures are undertaken in line with European standards and good governance practices, and that the affected population is well informed about the process,” she said.
Kosovo authorities have said that the Central Bank of Kosovo’s regulation banning the dinar is in a transitional period but have not indicated how long it will last.
/Argumentum.al
