Western Balkans need faster growth to catch up with European Union, says World Bank

It will take as many as six decades for income levels in the Western Balkans to catch up with those of the European Union (EU) if economies in the region continue to grow at the average speed achieved between 1995 and 2015, says a new World Bank report.

The Western Balkans: Revving Up the Engines of Growth and Prosperity report, launched today in Vienna, looks at how Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia – the six countries of the Western Balkans – can speed up economic growth and achieve faster income convergence with the EU.

Reforms and macroeconomic stability that can enable average growth rates of 5 percent a year would allow the Western Balkans to converge with the EU in just two decades, instead of six, notes the report. Also, increasing exports, investments, and employment are all priority areas for policymakers.