The Price of Power and the Cost of Bread in Kosovo

Prices rise, dignity shrinks. The same corrupt elites who blocked price controls now decry inflation they helped create, Kosovo’s poor pay, while the powerful posture.

There is a peculiar cruelty in being asked to pay more for less. In Kosovo, that cruelty has begun to define the everyday lives of its citizens those who, in the throes of economic fragility, find themselves at the mercy of both visible and invisible hands tightening the noose of inflation around their necks. As of May 2025, the nation stumbles into yet another chapter of its modern history, where price hikes on electricity, bread, and coffee tell a more sinister tale than market fluctuations alone can explain.

In late April, Koha Ditore reported¹ an unsettling trend: businesses across Kosovo began raising the prices of essential goods ahead of the official implementation of increased electricity tariffs, sanctioned by the Energy Regulatory Office (ZRRE). The hike: 16.1% – was justified in bureaucratic parlance as necessary for sustainability. But for the average citizen, already burdened by stagnant wages and systemic poverty, the impact has been little short of catastrophic. One loaf …