The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity
The Yugo, a communist-era car from the former Yugoslavia, was widely ridiculed for shedding its parts on roads across Europe and the United States. Zastava, which made Yugo, fared even worse than its product. After the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, the factory was reduced to producing only 18,000 c...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28894 |
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okr-10986-288942021-05-25T09:07:40Z The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity World Bank Group ECONOMIC GROWTH SUSTAINABILITY VOLATILITY PRODUCTIVITY JOB CREATION POVERTY REDUCTION EMPLOYMENT ACCESS TO SERVICES INFORMALITY LABOR MARKET WAGES TAXATION REGULATION SKILLED LABOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE ACCESS TO FINANCE STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES GOVERNANCE REFORMS The Yugo, a communist-era car from the former Yugoslavia, was widely ridiculed for shedding its parts on roads across Europe and the United States. Zastava, which made Yugo, fared even worse than its product. After the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, the factory was reduced to producing only 18,000 cars in 2002. Then Fiat entered the picture in 2008, investing more than a billion euro to make Zastava one of its most modern factories anywhere in the world. Now it is producing more than 100,000 cars a year and exporting to the European Union and the United States. Bosch and more than forty other international companies have set up operations in Serbia to supply parts to this factory and to other car producers in Europe; domestic investors also started entering the sector. Exports of the Serbian automotive industry has increased almost tenfold since the 1990s and are likely to expand further with recovery of European and global growth. Serbia's emergence as a successful exporter of competitive cars and parts is a symbol of a new era for the six countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. As late reformers, they can benefit from rising wages in the rapidly reforming transition countries of the European Union and from greater cost consciousness among firms adapting to lower global growth. The six (of which all but Albania were born from the break-up of Yugoslavia) largely missed out on earlier opportunities to thrive in the post-Cold War era. Today, with peace and enhanced collaboration, coupled with future prospects of European Union membership, the Western Balkan countries have another opportunity to build prosperity. This report addresses the following question: How can these countries raise economic growth rates and ensure sustained improvement in welfare for their citizens? Finding the right answer will help the countries' aspiration for income convergence with the EU, where on average people enjoy incomes that are three times higher. 2017-11-29T15:50:15Z 2017-11-29T15:50:15Z 2017 Report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28894 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Europe and Central Asia Eastern Europe 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 |
| topic |
ECONOMIC GROWTH SUSTAINABILITY VOLATILITY PRODUCTIVITY JOB CREATION POVERTY REDUCTION EMPLOYMENT ACCESS TO SERVICES INFORMALITY LABOR MARKET WAGES TAXATION REGULATION SKILLED LABOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE ACCESS TO FINANCE STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES GOVERNANCE REFORMS |
| spellingShingle |
ECONOMIC GROWTH SUSTAINABILITY VOLATILITY PRODUCTIVITY JOB CREATION POVERTY REDUCTION EMPLOYMENT ACCESS TO SERVICES INFORMALITY LABOR MARKET WAGES TAXATION REGULATION SKILLED LABOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INFRASTRUCTURE ACCESS TO FINANCE STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES GOVERNANCE REFORMS World Bank Group The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity |
| geographic_facet |
Europe and Central Asia Eastern Europe Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro Serbia North Macedonia (Formerly the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) |
| description |
The Yugo, a communist-era car from the former Yugoslavia, was widely ridiculed for shedding its parts on roads across Europe and the United States. Zastava, which made Yugo, fared even worse than its product. After the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, the factory was reduced to producing only 18,000 cars in 2002. Then Fiat entered the picture in 2008, investing more than a billion euro to make Zastava one of its most modern factories anywhere in the world. Now it is producing more than 100,000 cars a year and exporting to the European Union and the United States. Bosch and more than forty other international companies have set up operations in Serbia to supply parts to this factory and to other car producers in Europe; domestic investors also started entering the sector. Exports of the Serbian automotive industry has increased almost tenfold since the 1990s and are likely to expand further with recovery of European and global growth. Serbia's emergence as a successful exporter of competitive cars and parts is a symbol of a new era for the six countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. As late reformers, they can benefit from rising wages in the rapidly reforming transition countries of the European Union and from greater cost consciousness among firms adapting to lower global growth. The six (of which all but Albania were born from the break-up of Yugoslavia) largely missed out on earlier opportunities to thrive in the post-Cold War era. Today, with peace and enhanced collaboration, coupled with future prospects of European Union membership, the Western Balkan countries have another opportunity to build prosperity. This report addresses the following question: How can these countries raise economic growth rates and ensure sustained improvement in welfare for their citizens? Finding the right answer will help the countries' aspiration for income convergence with the EU, where on average people enjoy incomes that are three times higher. |
| format |
Report |
| author |
World Bank Group |
| author_facet |
World Bank Group |
| author_sort |
World Bank Group |
| title |
The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity |
| title_short |
The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity |
| title_full |
The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity |
| title_fullStr |
The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Western Balkans : Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity |
| title_sort |
western balkans : revving up the engines of growth and prosperity |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28894 |
| _version_ |
1764467969323171840 |