Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced at a government meeting on Wednesday that the value of the coefficient for salaries in the public sector this year will be 105 euros. 

Kurti said that according to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, in 2024 the value of the salary coefficient will be 110 euros.

“The Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance have made the necessary preparations according to the Law on Wages for the 82,000 public officials,” Kurti said on Wednesday. 

According to the value of the new wage coefficient, the average gross wage in the public sector will be 730 euros, Finance Minister Hekuran Murati said on Wednesday. 

Deputy Minister of Interior Bardhyl Dobra, after the government meeting, said that 4,157 officials’ salaries will increase from 241 euros to 394 euros.

The President will have the highest coefficient in Kosovo.

According to the new Law on Wages for the public sector, the coefficient for the position of President will be 18, which means that the salary will be 1,890 euros a month in 2023.

The Speaker of the Assembly and the Prime Minister will have a coefficient of 17, same as the head of the Supreme Court and the head Prosecutor, which means that their salary will be 1,785 euros per month. The head of the Constitutional Court will have a coefficient of 17.5.

Government spokesperson Perparim Kryeziu told BIRN that in the 2023 budget, over 700 million euros have been allocated for salaries in the public sector.

Last year, the government promised to draft a Law on Salaries that would solve the fundamental problems of wages in the public sector.

Trade unions demanded a pay rise of 100 euros per worker a month until the law came into force.

The government published an aid package due to the increase in inflation, and an extra 50 euros was foreseen for all public sector workers, not 100 euros.

Disagreements then lead to strikes for about one month in education and public administration at both local and central level. 

The strike was countered by protests by Parents’ Councils in Peja, Prishtina and Gjakova.

The strike started on August 25, 2022 and lasted until October 1 of that year, where it was then suspended by trade unions that urged the government meanwhile to reflect and keep its promises about the Law on Salaries.

The salaries law was approved by the Assembly of Kosovo on December 22, 2022 and will enter into force on February 5.

The wage rate was not made public until February 1, 2023.