2019 Government expenditure on fuel

The use of official vehicles by employees of public institutions to perform official duties costs Kosovo budget millions of euros.

As of January 2008, the rules and procedures for economic and efficient use of official vehicles of the Government of Kosovo by employees of public institutions have beenspecified by the Administrative Instruction No.03/2008. According to Article 3 of this Instruction, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, the Secretary-General of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Chief of Cabinet of the Office of the Prime Minister are entitled to use state vehicles for official purposes 24 hours a day. Whereas, certain employees may be entitled to use official vehicles even outside of official working hours,based on the decision of the ministers, upon the proposals of the secretaries-general, chief executive officers or the seniormanagement of budget organizations of the respective institution.

To oversee the implementation of this instruction, the Vehicle Use Monitoring Unit was established within the Ministry of Public Administration. This unit’s purpose is to keep a record of the use of official vehicles by all public institutions, to keep records of fuel expenditures, repairs and mileage for each vehicle.

According to Ministry of Finance2019 Financial Report, during 2019, 8.5 million euros were spent from the Kosovo budget on vehicle fuel in all public institutions. Compared to 2018, these expenditures have decreased by 270 thousand euros (-3%) in 2019. This subcategory includes 3% of all expenditures incurred in the category of goods and services. If we take an average of 1.07 euros per one liter of fuel, it turns out that the political and public staff of the Government spent around 8 million liters of fuel.

Figure 1:  Kosovo Government Spending on Fuel

Source: GAP Institute

Based on the Law on Access to Public Documents, GAP Institute requested personalized data on vehicle fuel expenditures for 2019, from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and all ministries. Our request related to vehicle fuel was responded to by the OPM and 18 ministries. Three other ministries have not provided a response, including: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Diaspora and Strategic Investments and Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, thereby not complying with the Law on Access to Public Documents.

Among the ministries that have responded to us, the Office of the Prime Minister and 14 ministries provided their responsesin the form of individualized annual data. OPM and four ministries (Ministry of Public Administration, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economic Development and Ministry for Communities and Returns) provided fuel costs per liter, which were then multiplied at an average price ranging from 0.9 to 1.13 euros, depending on the month they were incurred, and converted into euros by us. While the other five ministries: Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Trade and Industry identified theirexpenditures based on vehicle license plates. Ministry of European Integration and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning provided cabinet data on total monthly expenditures, while the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare provided only total ministry expenditures throughout the year.

Figure 2: 2019 Vehicle fuel expenditures, according to ministries

Source: GAP Institute

Based on the data collected from 19 institutions, pursuant to the above-mentioned request, it can be concluded that more than 369 thousand euros were spent on fuelduring 2019. The Office of the Prime Minister RamushHaradinaj spent the most with over 78 thousand euros, followed by the Ministry for Communities and Returns with around 31 thousand euros. Compared to 2018 vehicle fuel data, during 2019 only three ministries (Ministry for Communities and Returns, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance) reduced their expenditures for this category. While the ministries that in 2019 spent more on vehicle fuel compared to 2018 include: Ministry of Local Government Administration, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

In 2019, Minister of Public Administration, MahirYagcilar, spent the most on vehicle fuel, totaling over seven thousand euros. He is followed by Defense Minister, Rrustem Berisha and Minister of Regional Development, Rasim Demiri. Also, during 2019, the Ministry of Innovation and Entrepreneurship  changed two ministers, who spent a total of over 2 thousand euros.

Figure 3: 2019 Vehicle fuel expenses by ministers

Source: GAP Institute

In 2019, as it was the case previous year, Deputy Minister of Health, Ali Berisha, spent the most on vehicle fuel. He is followed by Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology Arton Berisha, Deputy Minister for Communities and Returns, Milazim Gashi and Deputy Minister of Finance, Fatmir Gashi.

Figure 4: 2019 Vehicle fuelexpenditures by deputy ministers

Source: GAP Institute

Based on the data collected, it is found that vehicle fuel costs for the OPM and 15 ministries were highest in September (over 29 thousand euros). The following figure does not include the annual expenditures of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Ministry for Communities and Returns and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as they were not divided on monthly basis.

Figure 5: 2019 Monthly vehicle fuelexpendituresaccording to ministries

Source: GAP Institute

On the following link: http://alturl.com/8giva you can find an infographic with vehicle fuel expenditures of the Office of Prime Minister and 18 ministries throughout 2019.