As Kosovo approaches its general election on February 9, Prime Minister Albin Kurti recently asserted that his fledgling nation has made “significant strides out of poverty.”

According to him, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) “has risen by 50 percent compared to the last pre-pandemic year, 2019.”

However, this statement is not entirely accurate based on data from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which indicate that GDP grew by 41.4 percent from 2019 to 2024.

When taking inflation into account, Kosovo’s projected real GDP growth rate for 2024 stands at 3.8 percent, which is lower than the 4.8 percent achieved in 2019. This growth has largely been fueled by consumption and investments from the diaspora in the real estate sector, neither of which provide a solid foundation for sustainable economic progress.