SME Policy Index for Western Balkans and Türkiye 2026 – Economy Profile for Kosovo

Kosovo: SME definition and data coverage

SME definition

The definition of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is established in Kosovo under Law No. 06/L‑032 on Accounting, Financial Reporting and Auditing (Official Gazette No. 3, 19 April 2018). It classifies enterprises based on three indicators assessed as of the last day of the previous financial year: statement of financial position, net turnover and average number of employees. Classification is determined by whether an enterprise exceeds at least two of the three thresholds within each size class. While the employee-count thresholds align with the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, Kosovo’s financial thresholds are materially lower than those of its EU counterparts. The microenterprise turnover ceiling of EUR 700 000, for instance, is less than half the EU threshold of EUR 2 million, reflecting the lower average scale of Kosovo’s business economy and its euroised but lower-income operating environment (Table 1).

Table 1. Definition of micro, small and medium sized enterprises in Kosovo

Category	EU definition	Kosovo
Micro	< 10 employees; ≤ EUR 2 M turnover or balance sheet	< 10 employees; ≤ EUR 700 000 turnover or ≤ EUR 350 000 balance sheet (2 of 3 criteria)
Small	< 50 employees; ≤ EUR 10 M turnover or balance sheet	< 50 employees; ≤ EUR 8 M turnover or ≤ EUR 4 M balance sheet (2 of 3 criteria)
Medium-sized	< 250 employees; ≤ EUR 50 M turnover or ≤ EUR 43 M balance sheet	< 250 employees; ≤ EUR 40 M turnover or ≤ EUR 20 M balance sheet (2 of 3 criteria)

Sources: (Kosovo Assembly, 2018[1]), (European Commission, 2003[2]).

SME data coverage

The sector overview (see Kosovo SME sector overview) relies principally on the Structural Business Survey (SBS) published by the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS), supplemented by Eurostat datasets for macroeconomic and trade context. Table 2 summarises the key data dimensions, their availability and currency. Kosovo stands apart from the other Western Balkan and Türkiye (WBT) economies covered in this publication in one fundamental respect: KAS does not publish size-disaggregated structural business statistics. The SBS provides enterprise counts, employment, turnover and wages by NACE Rev. 2 sector. However, it does so without any simultaneous size-class stratification, meaning that the standard analytical framework used in other economy chapters, built on micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) shares of employment, turnover and value added within each sector, cannot be replicated for Kosovo based on publicly available official sources. The most recent SBS reference year is 2023. Foreign trade disaggregated by enterprise characteristics is available through Eurostat, but only through 2021, the oldest available series among the economies covered. Business demography data are the strongest component of Kosovo’s published statistical offer: the Statistical Repertoire of Enterprises provides monthly enterprise registrations and terminations by NACE sector, size class and gender of owner, with annual stock data extending back to 2012.

Table 2. Core statistical sources for the SME sector overview, Kosovo

Data source	Size-class breakdown	Sectoral breakdown	Size × sector cross-tab	Time series	Key indicators
Structural Business Survey (SBS)	No	Yes (NACE Rev. 2)	No	2019-2023	Number of enterprises; persons employed; turnover; wages – all by sector only; no size-class disaggregation published; value added derived from official accounts, not SBS
Foreign trade by enterprise characteristics	Yes (micro, small, medium, large)	Yes (NACE Rev. 2)	Yes	2019-2021	Number of exporting firms; export value (and, derivatively, average export value per firm) – available through Eurostat only; most recent reference year is 2021, the oldest among WBT economies
Business demography (Statistical Repertoire of Enterprises)	Yes (micro, small, medium, large)	Yes (NACE Rev. 2)	Yes	2009-2025 (monthly); 2012-2024 (annual stocks)	Enterprise registrations (births) and terminations (deaths) by NACE sector, size class and gender of owner; active enterprise stocks; net new entries – long time series with EU-standard size classes

Sources: (KAS, 2024[3]), (KAS, 2024[4]), (KAS, 2024[5]), (Eurostat, n.d.[6]).

The policy dimension assessments in this publication additionally draw on a standardised set of statistical indicators collected through OECD questionnaires administered to counterpart institutions in each economy. For Kosovo, the principal respondents were KAS, the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo, the Regulatory Authority for Public Procurement (KRPP) and the Kosovo Business Registration Agency, with supplementary contributions from the Tax Administration and the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade. The questionnaires span nine thematic areas aligned with the policy dimensions of the SME Policy Index, plus a general statistics module on structural business demographics. Of the approximately 160 indicators requested at the economy level, Kosovo provided data for roughly one-quarter with meaningful multi-year coverage, with a further set reported as two-year snapshots. Coverage is strongest in the general statistics module – where KAS supplied size-disaggregated enterprise, employment and business demography data for 2020-2023 – followed by public procurement indicators from the KRPP and access-to-finance metrics from the Central Bank. The weakest areas are bankruptcy proceedings, internationalisation, and innovation, for which the questionnaires were returned with no data. The innovation dimension (8b) is empty, leaving Kosovo without any systematic measurement of SME innovation activity. A notable cross-cutting gap is the absence of research and development (R&D) and intellectual property indicators across all dimensions. Table 3 provides a dimension-by-dimension summary.

The strong performance of the general statistics module and the availability of multi-year procurement and banking data provide a foundation for selected dimensions of Kosovo’s SME policy assessment. However, the complete absence of data on bankruptcy proceedings, internationalisation and innovation, together with the lack of publicly available size-disaggregated SBS data and the dated foreign trade series, leaves significant areas of the policy framework without a quantitative evidence base. Closing the gap between the data KAS can supply through dedicated questionnaires and what it makes publicly available would be the single most impactful step toward strengthening Kosovo’s SME statistical infrastructure.

Table 3. Statistical data coverage by thematic area, Kosovo

Thematic area	Coverage	Indicators reported	Principal gaps
Structural business statistics	Substantial*	Enterprises, employment and women-owned enterprises by size class (2020-2023); enterprise birth and death rates (2020-2023); enterprise age structure by cohort (2020-2023); sectoral breakdown by NACE Rev. 2 for enterprises by size class	Value added by size class; exports by enterprise size; employment share of young enterprises; high-growth firms and gazelles
Entrepreneurial learning and women’s entrepreneurship (Dimension 1)	Moderate	Share of women CEOs (2019-2024); share of majority female-owned businesses (2019-2024); female self-employment rate (2019-2024); growth rate of women-owned enterprises (2019-2024); share of women graduating in STEM tertiary fields (2021-2023); share of female university graduates (2021-2023)	VET work-based learning exposure; IP registrations by women; women’s participation in government-funded SME trainings; government contracts and financing awarded to female-owned enterprises; entrepreneurship rate by gender; STEM VET graduates
Bankruptcy and second chance (Dimension 2)	Limited	Questionnaire returned without data	All indicators absent: time and cost of liquidation and reorganisation proceedings; number and flow of bankruptcy proceedings; non-performing loan ratios; debt, liquidity and productivity ratios of failing SMEs; B2B payment delays; discharge timelines
Public procurement (Dimension 5b)	Moderate	SME share in total value of public contracts (2019-2024); SME participation rate in tenders (2019-2024); SME participation in e‑procurement (2019-2024); share and value of contracts awarded to foreign operators (2019-2024); procurement complaints filed and resolution rates (2019-2024)	Payment delays from public authorities; green and social criteria in procurement; court-level complaint filing and resolution rates
Access to finance (Dimension 6)	Moderate	Outstanding business loans and SME share (2019-2024); interest rates for SMEs (2019-2024); collateral as share of total lending (2021-2024); SME loan applications (2019-2023); credit guarantee scheme volumes (2019-2024); leasing volumes (2019-2024); fintech firms (2022-2024); population with bank accounts (2019-2024)	Interest rates for large firms; SME-specific collateral requirements; loan rejection rates; government direct loans; private equity and venture capital volumes; factoring; crowdfunding; savings product penetration; green financial product awareness
Enterprise skills and innovation (Dimensions 8a and 8b)	Limited	Long-term unemployment rate (2019-2024); number of registered co-operatives (2019-2024); Dimension 8b (innovation) returned without data	Over-qualification rate; job vacancy rate; SME training incidence; social enterprise statistics; all innovation indicators absent: product, process and collaborative innovation rates; GERD, BERD and government R&D funding; tax incentives; IP filing and enforcement by SMEs
Green economy (Dimension 9)	Limited	Main questionnaire returned without data; supplementary worksheets provide partial CO₂ emissions by NACE sector (2020-2021) and energy consumption by industry (2019-2023); environmental economy value added worksheet returned empty	All SME-specific indicators absent: public support for green production, resource efficiency, circularity and renewable energy; environmental management systems; ecolabels and green products; disaster risk preparedness; social enterprise classification
Internationalisation (Dimension 10)	Limited	Questionnaire returned without data	All indicators absent: SME export share (goods and services); government expenditure on export support; average export value per SME; total SME export value; export growth rate; GVC integration; export composition by sector
Digital transformation (Dimension 11)	Partial	Digital intensity level (2023-2024); e‑commerce sales by enterprise size (2020-2024); e-commerce sales value (2023-2024); share of enterprises with a website (2020-2024); AI technology adoption (2023-2024); robotics adoption (2023-2024)	Business software adoption (ERP, CRM); digital payment acceptance; ICT training provision; ICT security measures, documents and incidents; big data analytics; 3D printing and IoT adoption; environmental impact of ICT; public support for digitalisation; most reported indicators are two-year snapshots

Notes: Coverage ratings reflect data submitted by counterpart institutions in all economies through OECD statistical questionnaires.

* “Substantial” denotes that a majority of indicators were reported with multi-year series; “Moderate” indicates that core indicators are available, but important sub-indicators are missing or reported as single-year snapshots only; “Partial” means fewer than half of indicators were provided with meaningful coverage; “Limited” applies where below one-quarter of indicators were provided or data are restricted to single-year estimates. Ratings reflect data as received; some gaps may be addressable through alternative local official or international sources.

Size-disaggregated enterprise and employment data were provided by KAS through the questionnaire pathway for the period 2020-2023; these breakdowns are not available from KAS’s publicly accessible statistical publications, where the Structural Business Survey reports only sectoral totals without size-class stratification.

STEM: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics; AI: Artificial intelligence; VET: Vocational education and training; IP: Intellectual property; B2B: Business-to-business; GERD: Gross domestic expenditure on research and development; BERD: Business enterprise expenditure on research and development; R&D: Research and development; GVC: Global value chain; ERP: Enterprise resource planning; CRM: Customer relationship management; ICT: Information and communication technology; IoT: Internet of Things.