The conflict most severely affected housing, agriculture, and telecommunications. About 30 percent of the housing units, both urban and rural, became unusable. More than 50 percent of agriculture assets were reportedly damaged or lost. Key parts of the telecommunications system were destroyed during the conflict. In addition, equipment of all types and personal property were looted extensively.

But physical damage goes much beyond such direct destruction. Infrastructure networks suffered from a decade of lack of maintenance. Rehabilitation costs will be much higher than preliminary assessments of conflict-related damage alone suggested. The "human damage", resulting from both the conflict and the decade under "enforced measures", is widespread, in particular among the younger generation, which has not had proper access to secondary and higher education.

Most institutions have virtually collapsed. In the immediate aftermath of the conflict, most Serb Kosovars left their (often key) positions in utilities, industry or administration. Archives and technical documents often disappeared in the process. Albanian Kosovars subsequently reclaimed these positions (which they had often held before 1989) - but specialists and skilled workers are still in short supply.

Lastly, little has been done over the last decade to prepare for the transition to a market-oriented economy.

Extracted from:
Toward Stability and Prosperity. A Program for Reconstruction and Recovery in Kosovo (pdf, 850 kB)
European Commission/World Bank

See also World Bank Economic Report:
Kosovo: Building Peace through Sustained Growth--The Economic and Social Policy Agenda (pdf, 200 kB)
Version in Albanian (pdf, 210 KB)