Data from the Central Bank of Kosovo show that Albanian investments in Kosovo also recorded a high growth last year. At the end of 2024, the stock of Albanian investments in Kosovo was worth Euro 468 million.

With this figure, Albania is the fifth largest investor in Kosovo. Albanian investments in Kosovo increased by 26% compared to the previous year.

Still, according to Kosovo’s Central Bank, the sector leading the stock of Albanian investments in Kosovo was led by construction. The stock of investments in construction was estimated at approximately Euro 59 million, or about 13% of Albanian investments in Kosovo.

The real estate sector followed, with 8% of the total, followed by production, with 7.7%, and trade, with approximately 5%. However, the structure of Albanian investments lacks figures for investments in the financial and energy sectors, which are protected by the rule of confidentiality in statistics.

This usually happens in cases where the publication of figures could reveal data on specific investors. On the other hand, foreign direct investments in Albania increased again for 2024 and reached a new historical record. According to data from the Bank of Albania, they marked the value of Euro 1.58 billion, up 5.6% compared to the previous year.

Even last year, the growth of FDI was mainly determined by the component of reinvested profits of existing investors.

According to the Bank of Albania, for 2024 the reinvested profits reached Euro 853 million, or almost 54% of the total FDI. They increased by 6.3% compared to 2023.

In recent years, reinvested earnings have surpassed new flows of Foreign Direct Investment in value. However, the growth of reinvested earnings is also partly affected by exchange rate developments.

While new foreign investments generally come in foreign currency, reinvested earnings of foreign companies are figures reported in Lek, which are converted into Euro, which is also the currency in which the Balance of Payments is reported for statistical purposes.

According to figures from the Bank of Albania, last year, the Euro was exchanged on average last year for Lek 100.71, the lowest level ever recorded.

The average exchange rate of the Euro against the Lek has decreased by 7.4% compared to 2023. The significant increase in the share of reinvested profits in the structure of Foreign Direct Investment can be partially explained by the strengthening of the Lek in the exchange rate.

In this way, the strengthening of the Lek has created a vicious circle, statistically affecting the increase in the values ??of foreign investments.

Meanwhile, FDI flows, in the form of new capital injections, reached 708 million euros, down 3.5% compared to a year earlier.

The decline in new capital flows from foreign investors may be a signal of the continued growth slowdown of foreign investments after the pandemic.

The growth of FDI was greater, expressed as a stock. According to the Bank of Albania, at the end of 2024, the stock of FDI reached Euro 15.4 billion, up 16% compared to the previous year.