(ANSA-AFP) - MITROVICA, FEB 22 - Long lines snaked around
banks in northern Kosovo on Wednesday, as ethnic Serbs waited to
receive salaries and pensions in limited tranches following a
government regulation targeting Serbia's dinar currency. The
disruption comes weeks after a new rule entered into force in
Kosovo on February 1 that made the euro the only legal currency
for payments in commercial transactions and effectively banned
the use of the dinar. On Wednesday, Kosovo's Serbs working for
government institutions in Serbia and pensioners were set to
receive salaries in northern Kosovo, where many in the community
are dependent on the payments. Worries have been mounting for
days over fears that cash was running short in the area,
following the blocking of two deliveries of dinars after
officials stopped cars transporting the currency at the border.
Serbia's central bank said the shipments were set to pay
salaries, pensions, social benefits and other payments to Serbs
in Kosovo. On Wednesday, account holders were only able to
withdraw limited amounts of dinars, according to an AFP reporter
on the ground, usually in tranches of 5,000 to 10,000 ($46 to
$92). "It is most likely the dinar will be abolished because
that is Pristina's position. What are we left with?" one
pensioner told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Others
said they would be forced to cross the border and travel to
Serbia to collect their salary in full. "Tomorrow, I plan to go
to Raska and pick up my salary there," said Milica Ivanovic, a
25-year-old working at a Serbian government institution in
northern Kosovo, referring to a town in southern Serbia. "I can
afford it but there are others who can't," she added.
(ANSA-AFP).
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