Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes

Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes

The Western Balkan countries, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, achieved strong growth and poverty reduction since the start of the transition to market economies. Desp...

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Main Author: World Bank Group
Format: Policy Note
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Vienna 2017
Subjects:
INVESTMENT
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
CAPITAL MARKETS
LABOR MARKET
INFRASTRUCTURE
BROADBAND
ENERGY
TRADE
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/521241498836042507/Western-Balkans-Regional-economic-integration-issues-notes
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28316
id okr-10986-28316
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-283162021-05-25T09:02:51Z Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes World Bank Group INVESTMENT REGIONAL INTEGRATION CAPITAL MARKETS LABOR MARKET INFRASTRUCTURE BROADBAND ENERGY TRADE The Western Balkan countries, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, achieved strong growth and poverty reduction since the start of the transition to market economies. Despite progress, today the six Western Balkan countries remain among the poorest in Europe, overtaken by the more successful neighboring countries in terms of convergence to EU standards of living. In summary, to converge faster to EU living standards, the Western Balkan countries need to continue to pursue a ‘three-pronged’ effort by implementing in parallel prudent macroeconomic policies, bold structural reforms, and measures to advance economic integration. Macroeconomic and fiscal stability, accompanied by decisive structural reforms are two necessary conditions to promote a sustainable and strong growth model, one that is based on private sector growth, investment, and higher exports. Structural reforms are key to unlocking the benefits of regional integration including productivity gains, investments, and job creation, all of which will support convergence to EU living standards. Indeed, economic integration is linked to productivity, as productivity is inherent in achieving economies of scale. And the speed and depth of reforms that rekindle income convergence will help advance the pace of economic integration. 2017-09-12T19:18:04Z 2017-09-12T19:18:04Z 2017-06-30 Policy Note http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/521241498836042507/Western-Balkans-Regional-economic-integration-issues-notes http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28316 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Vienna Economic & Sector Work :: Policy Notes Economic & Sector Work Europe and Central Asia Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro Serbia North Macedonia (Formerly the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic INVESTMENT
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
CAPITAL MARKETS
LABOR MARKET
INFRASTRUCTURE
BROADBAND
ENERGY
TRADE
spellingShingle INVESTMENT
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
CAPITAL MARKETS
LABOR MARKET
INFRASTRUCTURE
BROADBAND
ENERGY
TRADE
World Bank Group
Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kosovo
Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic of
Montenegro
Serbia
North Macedonia (Formerly the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
description The Western Balkan countries, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, achieved strong growth and poverty reduction since the start of the transition to market economies. Despite progress, today the six Western Balkan countries remain among the poorest in Europe, overtaken by the more successful neighboring countries in terms of convergence to EU standards of living. In summary, to converge faster to EU living standards, the Western Balkan countries need to continue to pursue a ‘three-pronged’ effort by implementing in parallel prudent macroeconomic policies, bold structural reforms, and measures to advance economic integration. Macroeconomic and fiscal stability, accompanied by decisive structural reforms are two necessary conditions to promote a sustainable and strong growth model, one that is based on private sector growth, investment, and higher exports. Structural reforms are key to unlocking the benefits of regional integration including productivity gains, investments, and job creation, all of which will support convergence to EU living standards. Indeed, economic integration is linked to productivity, as productivity is inherent in achieving economies of scale. And the speed and depth of reforms that rekindle income convergence will help advance the pace of economic integration.
format Policy Note
author World Bank Group
author_facet World Bank Group
author_sort World Bank Group
title Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes
title_short Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes
title_full Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes
title_fullStr Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes
title_full_unstemmed Western Balkans : Regional Economic Integration Issues Notes
title_sort western balkans : regional economic integration issues notes
publisher World Bank, Vienna
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/521241498836042507/Western-Balkans-Regional-economic-integration-issues-notes
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28316
_version_ 1764466446044233728

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