The Western Balkan economies have faced numerous external shocks in recent years, while simultaneously becoming more integrated with the European Union. This paper employs a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model to estimate the spillovers of real, financial, monetary, and global commodity...

The population of North Macedonia has been steadily declining over the past two decades and is projected to continue to decline into the foreseeable future due to emigration. This paper estimates an expected cost of the population decline on potential output growth of around 0.5 percentage...

This Selected Issues paper examines the expected costs of the population decline on potential output growth in New Macedonia. The IMF estimates that the population decline would create a drag on output growth of around 0.5 percentage points. Increased emigration, potentially driven by further EU...

The 2025 Article IV Consultation discusses that economic growth in North Macedonia is gaining momentum in an environment of increased uncertainty. A credible fiscal strategy is essential to rebuilding buffers, reducing debt and ensuring compliance with fiscal rules. This is key to maintaining...

The banking sector in the Western Balkan countries has changed dramatically in recent years. A variety of factors have contributed to these changes, such as economic growth, increased competition, and the implementation of new regulations. As a result, the profitability of the banking sector...

The overall objective of this joint country visit to North Macedonia was to discuss and review the advancement of a One Health approach against AMR through: the identification of strengths and weaknesses in the current national AMR strategies, action plans and intersectoral coordination...

This paper aims to explore the feasibility of establishing a digital participation bank in North Macedonia based on the principles of interest-free finance. This system has been part of ethical and equitable financial systems in the major Abrahamic religions. Thus, as interestfree finance...

Economic governance is a key aspect of the EU enlargement process, mirroring efforts in the EU to strengthen economic policy coordination and multilateral surveillance under the European Semester. The Annual Economic and Financial Dialogue with Regional Partners aims to prepare these (potential)...

Following the election of the new government in North Macedonia in June 2024, the World Bank Group prepared 16 sector-specific Policy Notes suggesting three focus areas to support faster, more resilient, and sustainable economic growth in North Macedonia

People in many parts of North Macedonia are exposed to more toxic particulate matter air pollution than their neighbors in Western Europe. The burning of solid fuels for heating in homes and other buildings is a main driver of high ambient concentrations of particulate matter air pollution,...

This report describes the bioeconomy policy developments in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine, associated to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. The work extends the geographic coverage of the...

This article examines how corruption operates as a gendered informal institution that restricts women’s substantive political empowerment in post-socialist democracies. Focusing on North Macedonia, we argue that clientelism and male-dominated party networks function as gatekeeping mechanisms...

This report describes the employment and social situation of young people in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - the WB6) and also looks at employment in Türkiye. It focuses on young people because they were particularly hard...

This report describes the employment and social situation of young people in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - the WB6) and also looks at employment in Türkiye. It focuses on young people because they were particularly hard...

The Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) is a research tool that is designed to identify potential risks to media pluralism in the Member States of the European Union and in Candidate Countries. This narrative report has been produced on the basis of the implementation of the MPM that was carried out...

Soil contamination in the Western Balkans is a significant challenge, hampered by inadequate legal frameworks, lack of comprehensive field data, and insufficient site investigations. This report aims to support the JRC's efforts to fill information gaps on soil pollution across the Western...

The present report compiling and analysing data for indicators regarding the monitoring of the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for the Region of Western Macedonia, Greece, was developed under the expert contract nr. CT-EX2015D230484-102 between the European Commission and the expert...

This report describes the external quality assessment (EQA) scheme for the European Legionnaires' disease Surveillance network, for the detection, isolation, identification, and enumeration of Legionella species. The EQA schemes provide an outbreak scenario with packages of clinical and...

ECDC is helping countries in the Western Balkans and Türkiye to improve their infectious disease prevention and control systems and public health workforce to prepare them for their future participation in ECDC's work. Technical cooperation with Western Balkans and Türkiye aims to improve...

The importance of the development of teachers' digital competence for successful digital education and training and of their role in developing students' digital competence has been recognised in recent European policies on digital education (DEAP 2021-2027; European Commission 2020) and on the...

The importance of the development of teachers' digital competence for successful digital education and training and of their role in developing students' digital competence has been recognised in recent European policies on digital education (DEAP 2021-2027; European Commission 2020) and on the...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on challenges and policies regarding climate change in the Republic of North Macedonia. A scale-up of private and public investments, along with decommission of old and polluting coal-based power plants, is needed to adapt to climate change and meet emissions...

This paper discusses Republic of North Macedonia's 2023 Article IV Consultation and First Review under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL). The authorities are progressing toward PLL objectives, encompassing the safeguarding of public finances, reduction of energy subsidies, addressing...

Since 25 June 2024, the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) have been engaging in accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. The EU wants and needs to provide a strategic response to new geopolitical challenges, especially the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same...

This paper empirically analyses the determining factors of the growth in the migration rate in the countries of the Western Balkans. The analysis is carried out with panel data over 17 years from 2005 to 2021. The purpose of this paper is to analyse social variables such as unemployment and...

The agricultural sector is a cornerstone of social and economic life in the Western Balkan (WB) countries. However, it faces challenges of slow productivity growth, limited access to assets, and vulnerability to external shocks like climate change. Agricultural policies are crucial to enhance...

This paper presents a calibrated DSGE model of the economy of North Macedonia that was developed at the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia (NBRNM) within a technical assistance project delivered jointly by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Czech National Bank (CNB). The...

Public procurement in North Macedonia amounted to 16 percent of total government expenditure in 2018, or 5 percent of gross domestic product. The country's public procurement is also vulnerable to corruption risks, which typically push prices up, leading to overspending. To support better budget...

Insurance companies play a pivotal role in the financial systems of developing countries, wielding substantial influence on systemic financial stability. Thus, understanding their efficiency, performance, and sustainability is paramount for policymakers and stakeholders alike. The aim of this...

The Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) is a research tool that is designed to identify potential risks to media pluralism in the Member States of the European Union and in Candidate Countries. This narrative report has been produced on the basis of the implementation of the MPM that was carried out...

This paper has adopted a Bayesian FAVAR approach to examine the monetary transmission mechanism in North Macedonia. The model is based on a broad data set that encompasses 140 monthly time series spanning between January 2010 and January 2019. In particular, the impact of policy on bank...

The purpose of this research is to explore the management functions involved in supporting the tobacco industry in the Republic of North Macedonia. The study aims to analyze the role of management functions, including planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, in the development and...

Contemporary studies of politics highlight the significance of public activism and participation in governance. These mechanisms and the formulation of public policies foster interaction between institutions and society, promoting democracy, transparency, cohesion, and inclusiveness. However,...

After trailing Euro Area inflation closely in the recent past, inflation in the Western Balkans has accelerated faster since early 2022 on the back of the shocks to global commodity prices, strong recovery from the pandemic, and lingering supply bottlenecks. This paper employs two complementary...

Political economy has been interested in conceptual frameworks employed to understand variation across national economic and political institutions. In this paper, we analyze the extent to which emerging capitalist societies, particularly the Republic of Macedonia, as a representative of the...

Franchising is one of the most used strategies and/or modes for growing and expanding business as franchisors and starting new ventures as franchisees from the other side. Franchising is used for growing and expanding business not only in domestic but also in the international market. It can be...

North Macedonia, an Eastern European nation of 1.836 million inhabitants, has a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). An aging population and high levels of NCD risk factors are mainly responsible, with tobacco, raised blood pressure, and unhealthy diets driving mortality and...

overnment debt, as a prime macroeconomic determinant, has a significant impact on the design of fiscal and monetary policy in a country. That is to say, that, with the emergence of the Corona crisis and the energy crisis which caused: 1) interruption of global supply chains, 2) increase in food...