The Republic of Kosovo became independent on February 17th, 2008, making it one of the youngest states in Europe. In the capital Pristina and in all other places in the country you pay with the euro, which is the official national currency.
The currency, which can be recognized by the ISO code EUR and the symbol €, can be used in all regions of the country. In some Serbian enclaves in Kosovo, payments can also be made in the Serbian dinar. The fact that Kosovo uses the euro is due to its past.
Monetary history
In 1999, the D-Mark was introduced as the official means of payment, which is why the change from D-Mark to Euro also took place in Kosovo as part of the introduction of the Euro into the European Monetary Union. This also leads to an abnormality, because in this country the euro is used as a means of payment, although Kosovo is not a member of the European Monetary Union.
In this context, there is talk of a so-called “passive euro user” who uses this currency but does not offer its own euro coins. This means that Kosovo can be compared to Montenegro or Zimbabwe, for example, which use the euro as their national currency in the same way.
The euro has revolutionized payment transactions within Europe. The introduction of the currency began on January 1, 1999, when the euro already appeared as book money, but was not yet available as cash.
This step took place on January 1, 2002, when the euro replaced previous national currencies such as the D-Mark, the Austrian shilling or the Italian lira. It is now the second most important reserve currency in the world, which means that the euro is considered very stable and crisis-proof.
In addition to the passive euro users such as Kosovo, this currency is used in 23 other countries. On the one hand, the euro coins and notes are available in the 19 states of the Eurosystem,
however, with the miniature states Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City, there are four other so-called “associated euro users”. These countries also have their own euro coins with appropriately selected and applied motifs.
More about exchanging euros for the local currency
As in most European countries, the cheapest way to withdraw money is with a credit card or EC card at an ATM. Before doing this, however, you should check whether your own bank charges fees for foreign assignments.
People who want to pay in cash with the euro during their stay in Kosovo can use the currency converter to determine the exchange rate to other currencies such as the US dollar or the Serbian dinar.