 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Chinese trade threatens Balkan economic growth: World Bank
Sarajevo (AFP) July 16, 2008 China's trade competitiveness is threatening to slow down economic growth in the Western Balkans, the World Bank warned on Wednesday. "China competes against the countries of the West Balkans ... in a very wide range of products," the bank's top economist for Europe and the Middle East, Sanjay Kathuria, told reporters in the Bosnian capital. "Against this, the exports of the countries in the region are not doing particulary well, and there are concerns about their sustainability," he warned. In its latest report, the World Bank recommended the small countries of the region seek to strengthen their fragile economies by boosting trade cooperation with each other. "This will make (the) effective market larger ... more competitive, and will improve the qualty and cost of goods and services," Kathuria said. He singled out a free trade agreement in force in the region since 2006 as a useful tool to achieve that. The World Bank report on the Western Balkans included the following countries: Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Besides China, Kathura stressed trade preferences that have been enjoyed for several years by the countries of the former Yugoslavia were "now eroding." The bank also suggested that regional governemnts should start working on the issue of improving skills and wage competitiveness. "This will help for the countries to compete against low wages and very competititve Asian countries," Kathuria said. Other recommendations included the need to reduce the costs of telecommincation services and prevention of energy shortages, he added. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Global Trade News
The Euro And Dollar Clash Goes Global
Paris (UPI) Jul 14, 2008 France's political elites and its public will be enjoying the parades, fly-pasts and parties that celebrate Monday's Bastille Day, anniversary of the 1789 French Revolution. But a lot of their attention will be on the grim news from world markets. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook