Montenegro and Albania Show Highest Economic Growth in the Balkans
BalkanTravellers.com
In a period of slower GDP growth in Western Europe, the IMF has optimistic expectations for Albania’s economic development, according to the Albanian newspaper Gazeta Shqiptare.
The country’s projected economic growth, at 6 per cent, puts it only after Montenegro, whose economy is expected to grow by 7.2 per cent by the end of the year. The two countries are followed by Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, each with a 5.5 per cent projected economic growth, Romania – 5.4 per cent, Macedonia – 5 per cent, Croatia – 4.2 per cent and Serbia – 4 per cent.
As a whole, the economic growth in the region for 2008 is higher than the previous year. According to the publication, EU membership and the of the regional economies’ opening up to globalising market have increased the competition the countries have to face but at the same time given them new opportunities for development.
Although it has one of the highest growth rates in the region, Gazeta Shqiptare wrote, Albania still has the lowest GDP. As BalkanTravellers.com reported – despite a still underdeveloped infrastructure, the country is attracting international investments, especially in real estate, due to its growing economic and political stability.
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When Henry Blount journeyed through Bosnia in the 1630s, two things struck him: the purity of the water and the great height of the Bosnians, which, he noted, “made me suppose them the offspring of those old Germans noted by Tacitus and Caesar for their huge size.”
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Located roughly in the middle between Bulgaria's Black Sea and Croatia’s Adriatic coasts, which are both shaken by high-energy rock parties each July, Novi Sad hosts one of the most significant summer festivals on the Balkans – EXIT. As fans from all parts of the region start to gather in the town for for this year’s event, scheduled to take place between July 10 and 13, Mila Popova recounts about the time she spent at the festival last summer.
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A Perfect Shot
