Acknowledgements

This Regular Economic Report (RER) covers economic developments, prospects, and economic policies in the Western Balkans region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

The report is produced twice a year by a team led by Sanja Madzarevic-Sujster, Christos Kostopoulos, and Richard Record (Task Team Leaders). This issue’s core team included World Bank staff working on the Western Balkan countries (with additional contributions to specific sections): Marc Schiffbauer, Natasha Rovo (Growth section), Sanja Madžarević-Šujster, Joana Madjoska, Klea Ibrahimi (Labor section), Leonardo Lucchetti, Carlos Gustavo Ospino Hernandez, Anna Fruttero, Zurab Sajaia, Jonathan Karver (Poverty section), Milan Lakićević, Besart Myderrizi (Fiscal section), Hilda Shijaku, Isolina Rossi (Monetary section), Alper Oguz, Jane Hwang (Financial sector section), Sandra Hlivnjak, Tihomir Stučka (External section), Richard Record, Lazar Šestović, Collette Mari Wheeler, Philip George Kenworthy, Shijie Shi, Sinem Kilic Celik (Outlook section), Alper Oguz, Jane Hwang, Ismail Fontan, Vahe Vardanyan (Spotlight).

Research assistance was provided by Suzana Jukić. Diane Stamm provided assistance in editing, and Budy Wirasmo in typesetting. The cover image was created by Sanja Tanić.

The dissemination of the report and external and media relations are managed by an External Communications team comprised of Paul Clare, Sanja Tanić, Lundrim Aliu, Anita Božinovska, Ana Gjokutaj, Jasmina Hadžić, Gordana Filipovic, and Mirjana Popović.

The team is grateful to Xiaoqing Yu (Regional Director for the Western Balkans); Lalita Moorty (Regional Director, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions); Jasmin Chakeri (Practice Manager, Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice); and the Western Balkans Country Management team for their guidance in preparation of this report. The team is also thankful for comments on earlier drafts of this report received from the Ministries of Finance and Central Banks in Western Balkans countries.

This Western Balkans RER and previous issues may be found at: www.worldbank.org/eca/wbrer/.

Abbreviations

CAD current account deficit

CEE Central and Eastern Europe

CESEE Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe

CIT corporate income tax

CPI Consumer Price Index

€ euro

EBA European Central Bank

ECAPOV Central Asia Regional Collection

ECB European Central Bank eop end-of-period

EPS Elektroprivreda Srbije (Serbia)

EU European Union

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FDI foreign direct investment

FX foreign exchange

GDP gross domestic product

H1 first half

ICT information and communications technology

IMF International Monetary Fund

KM convertible mark; the monetary unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina

LFS Labor Force Survey lhs left-hand scale

NBS National Bank of Serbia

NPLs nonperforming loans

PMI Purchasing Managers Index pp percentage points

PPG public and publicly guaranteed

PPP purchasing power parity

Q1 first quarter rhs right-hand scale

SILC Survey of Income and Living Conditions

SMEs small and medium-sized enterprises

SOEs state-owned enterprises

UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

VAT value-added tax y-o-y year-over-year

Country abbreviations

ALB Albania

BIH Bosnia and Herzegovina

KOS Kosovo

MKD North Macedonia

MNE Montenegro

SRB Serbia

WB6 Western Balkans 6