PRISTINA: The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it has disbursed some 100 million euros ($106.30 million) to Kosovo as part of its second and third review of a stand-by deal with the Balkan country.
Kosovo agreed a two-year funding deal worth a total 184 million euros with the Washington-based lender in July 2015, of which 172 million euros has now been paid to Pristina.
The IMF said it had also approved an extension of the current loan deal to Aug. 4 to help ongoing structural reforms.
Ruud Vermeulen, the IMF resident representative to Kosovo said Europe's newest country, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, continues to have the highest economic growth in the region.
Growth is seen rising to around 4 percent this year from 3.5 percent last year, driven mainly by remittances from Kosovars working overseas and infrastructure spending, he said.
"Kosovo should move away from its current remittances-driven growth model towards one that is led by production and export, which of course we see as a medium and long term objective," Vermuelen told a news conference.
Unemployment in Kosovo remains high at 27.5 percent, although it has fallen after reaching 35 percent in 2014.
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