Prishtina The Effect Of Covid-19 Pandemic in Kosovo Main responsive and protective mechanisms adopted by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo in the health care front include: (1) Social distancing. With certain regulations, the Government adopted a social distancing policy in order to reduce the speed of transmission and allow the health care system to plan resources for helping people with higher predisposition to have severe or lethal consequences from the virus. (2) Increase personnel capacity. By means of new alignments in clinics, there was an increase in numbers of health care professionals and clinics that deal with COVID-19 cases. (3) Overcome critical shortage. In order to enhance health care capacity and overcome critical shortage, the Government purchased or received as donation a number of testing kits, masks, respirators, and beds (4)Communication. Government used communication as a tool to inform and guide citizens, but also build trust and offer support for the citizens. RESPOND: THE HEALTH CARE FRONT To sustain public welfare and address negative impacts of public health control on the economy, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo adopted economic packages by targeting all sectors of the economy. The economy policy packages introduced in Kosovo include different policy variables falling under two main categories: monetary and fiscal policy. The monetary and 4 Operational Plan on Emergency Fiscal Package. Ministry of Finance and Transfers. Government of the Republic of Kosovo 5 Operational Plan on Emergency Fiscal Package. Ministry of Finance and Transfers. Government of the Republic of Kosovo fiscal stimulus measures undertaken by the Government to counteract the disruptions following the outburst of the virus are outlined in the upcoming paragraphs. MONETARY POLICY 4 The list of key monetary policy measure include the following actions: • Loan repayments for individuals and businesses have been suspended by the Kosovo Central Bank until at least 30 April 2020. Additionally, the Kosovo Central Bank has it under review the requests of for the suspension of frozen individual credit ratings and credit repayments to support borrowers during the pandemic crisis; • Fifty percent(50%) cut on the interest rate on loans for SMEs operating in the tourism sector. • Fifteen percent(15%) cut on the interest rate on loans for large companies; and, • The reserve capital of the Finance Development Institution ALTUM has increased to support and give access to instruments such as loans and credit guarantees for firms affected by the crisis. FISCAL POLICY 5 Additionally, the list of key fiscal policy measure include the following actions: • On 11 March, reinforcement of the healthcare system was done by allocating ten(10) million EUR to fund efforts to contain the outbreak of the COVI-19 virus; • On 30 March, major emergency support package with an amount of about EUR 170.6 million(3% of GDP) was passed by the Government of RKS to assist individuals, firms, and municipalities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; 7