Economy

'Gastarbeiter' economy

14/05/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

The Central Bank of Kosovo warns that the remittances are falling as the diaspora starts to feel the effects of the global economic crisis. Kosovo's diaspora has a long tradition of sending money home because of strong family ties, a practice developed because of Kosovo's difficult political and social environment during the last decades

Exclusion and inclusion

21/04/2009 -  Irene Dioli

''The decline in economic growth will be more effective in raising poverty rates than the 6 years of growth just passed was in reducing them''. An interview with Paul Stubbs, author of an independet study for the European Commission on social inclusion in the Western Balkans

The Armenian Dram collapses

16/03/2009 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

After years of economic growth that surprised many, the global financial crisis finally hit Armenia early last week forcing the Central Bank to devalue the local currency, the dram

Far away, so close?

13/03/2009 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Just before the start of the electoral campaign, Macedonian prime minister Gruevski announced a massive plan to invest in infrastructures. Little resources, though, seems to have been allocated to revive the "European Corridor 8", meant to link the Adriatic to the Black Sea

Fast and furious

12/03/2009 -  Veton Kasapolli Pristina

Pristina's population has increased from around 100,000 in 1981, to an estimated 500,000 today. The city's turbulent growth has been marked by a frenetic building activity without any planning. This model of development is now being questioned

Happiness is... multiple pipelines

06/03/2009 -  Leila Alieva* Baku

The war in Georgia and the recent gas crisis with Ukraine have revived Europe's willingness to develop the Nabucco pipeline, an alternative transit route for gas imports from the Caspian Sea basin that would bypass Russia

Bread and Circuses

23/01/2009 -  Drago Hedl Osijek

The global economic crisis is at Croatia's doorstep. The budget deficit is on the rise, industrial production is in decline and external debt stands at 36 billion Euro. For now, public debate is monopolized by the world handball championship but economists foresee a rude awakening

Heavy oil

29/12/2008 -  Leila Alieva* Baku

Oil and Politics in Azerbaijani history. The ambiguous effects of oil-related income in the modernization of the country and in the strengthening of an autocracy close to the West but hostile to freedom of expression

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Death of a Deminer

12/12/2008 -  Andrea Oskari Rossini Sarajevo

Demining in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) thirteen years after the end of the war. Over 200.000 mines still on the ground. The issue of the Prom-1. Our investigation of the contracts and sub-contracts; the work by piece in the minefields

Domino Effect

10/10/2008 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Financial markets in the Balkans are cracking under the pressure from the global financial crisis. Tuesday (October 7) was a bad day for the Macedonian stock market. Its index, the MBI 10, plunged by almost 8%. The crisis seems to be only now arriving in the region

A Thawing Game

09/09/2008 -  Roberta Bertoldi Erevan

A warm wind blows on Hrazdan stadium in Yerevan. While the two teams on the field play a qualifications match for the World Cup, the presidents of Turkey and Armenia shake each other's hand.

Hot Autumn in Croatia

16/07/2008 -  Drago Hedl Osijek

Rising prices and galloping inflation. The expensive life is squeezing Croats as in a clamp. Over a third of an average family's monthly income goes for food. Discontent is growing and might explode in the streets this autumn

Powering the New Kosovo

27/06/2008 -  V. Kasapolli Pristina

Kosovo suffers from a chronic lack of energy. To overcome the power shortage, the government gambled on the "Kosovo C" project, a coal-based power station expected to start production in 2015. What is most needed now, though, are a wide public debate and a clear development strategy in the energy sector

Bitter Salad

11/06/2008 -  Gilda Lyghounis

With an official inflation rate of 4.4 percent (highest in the European Union), a real rate estimated at 6 percent, and food prices rising at 7 percent annually, Greece risks becoming the most expensive country in the EU. Most Greek families suffer from the crisis

Kosovo's economy, many myths to dismantle

13/11/2007 -  Francesco Martino Pristina

Even when the status issue will be solved, economic development and foreign capital investment in Kosovo will not be automatic, but they will come only thanks to an effective policy, which up to now is still absent. An interview with Safet Gerxhaliu, of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce.

Balkans Mystery Tours: The Mine of Alshar

02/05/2007 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Alshar, an ancient mine located in the southern Balkans, in Macedonia, is said to contain minerals to be found nowhere else on the planet. The rarest of them all - the lorandite, is thought to have the potential to let us understand the work of the sun. Science-fiction or reality?

Macedonia: The New Business Heaven in Europe?

17/04/2007 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Identifying the very low level of foreign direct investment as one of the serious causes of the slow growth of the local economy, the Macedonian government launched an aggressive campaign aimed at attracting foreign businesses to "Discover the New Business Heaven in Europe": Macedonia

EU and Macedonia: Do People Make Changes?

11/10/2006 -  Risto Karajkov

''Do not change people to make changes'' said recently the EU to Macedonia. Along with support and encouragement for the new government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, the political leadership of the country has started to receive its first warnings and disapprovals from Europe

Macedonia: New Government

31/08/2006 -  Risto Karajkov

"Greater economic growth, investment, de-politicization and professionalism of the public administration, reduction of bureaucracy, and uncompromised fight against corruption", are the promises of the new Macedonian government to its citizens.

Macedonian Telecom: Can't Let Go

19/12/2005 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

A citizen from Skopje climbed a telephone post last month and cut the wire. A final individual act of bitter resentment against the monopolistic behavior of Macedonian Telecom. This is but the most radical of citizens' outcries against the arrogant conduct of the Telecom over the past 4 years in Macedonia

Lost in Transition

06/05/2005 -  Risto Karajkov Skopje

Polls carried throughout the Balkans repeatedly show that 50-70% of young people would leave their countries at the first given chance. The reasons are lack of perspective, poverty, unemployment. Usually youth unemployment rates are 2-4 times higher than the overall ones