Seles_Beckham
Oct 1st, 2004, 12:22 PM
Major infrastructure improvements have taken place.
War damage in Sarajevo, so evident just a couple of years ago, is fast disappearing.
In cities, especially the capital, new buildings are springing up. Sarajevo's famous twin towers, left as burnt-out shells at the end of the three-and-a-half-year siege of the city, have been rebuilt and now play host to exclusive shopping arcades.
http://www.unitic.ba/eng/foto_galerija/unitic%20slibe/119_1903.jpg
This summer, there have been major road works across the country, resurfacing roads left potholed and crumbling from the war a decade ago.
"The economic situation is simply unrecognisable since the mid-1990s," the chief international envoy to Bosnia, Lord Paddy Ashdown, told BBC News Online.
"For the past four years, we have had steady GDP growth of around 5%. The Bosnia currency remains the most stable currency in the Balkans; inflation is near zero and the most recent figures show investment and economic activities are rising faster than predicted - though still not fast enough," he says.
More than $5bn have been pumped into Bosnia since the end of the war.
The World Bank recently announced that Bosnia had now officially moved from a post-conflict to a transitional country.
Just this September, an international donors conference pledged another $1bn to encourage further development.
The UNHCR has just announced that more than one million people made refugees during the war have returned home.
But big challenges lie ahead.
The country remains deeply politically divided between its Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Despite efforts to build up the powers of the central state, both regions are still highly autonomous, with separate political, police and financial structures.
"Bosnia has moved on," says the World Bank's Srecko Latal in Sarajevo.
"But more reforms are needed. The country has to be able to attract foreign investment. To do that, the business environment has to improve. For instance, the cost of setting up new businesses and the bureaucracy associated with it, has to be reduced." There is no doubt the country is in far better economic condition than in the immediate aftermath of the war
War damage in Sarajevo, so evident just a couple of years ago, is fast disappearing.
In cities, especially the capital, new buildings are springing up. Sarajevo's famous twin towers, left as burnt-out shells at the end of the three-and-a-half-year siege of the city, have been rebuilt and now play host to exclusive shopping arcades.
http://www.unitic.ba/eng/foto_galerija/unitic%20slibe/119_1903.jpg
This summer, there have been major road works across the country, resurfacing roads left potholed and crumbling from the war a decade ago.
"The economic situation is simply unrecognisable since the mid-1990s," the chief international envoy to Bosnia, Lord Paddy Ashdown, told BBC News Online.
"For the past four years, we have had steady GDP growth of around 5%. The Bosnia currency remains the most stable currency in the Balkans; inflation is near zero and the most recent figures show investment and economic activities are rising faster than predicted - though still not fast enough," he says.
More than $5bn have been pumped into Bosnia since the end of the war.
The World Bank recently announced that Bosnia had now officially moved from a post-conflict to a transitional country.
Just this September, an international donors conference pledged another $1bn to encourage further development.
The UNHCR has just announced that more than one million people made refugees during the war have returned home.
But big challenges lie ahead.
The country remains deeply politically divided between its Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Despite efforts to build up the powers of the central state, both regions are still highly autonomous, with separate political, police and financial structures.
"Bosnia has moved on," says the World Bank's Srecko Latal in Sarajevo.
"But more reforms are needed. The country has to be able to attract foreign investment. To do that, the business environment has to improve. For instance, the cost of setting up new businesses and the bureaucracy associated with it, has to be reduced." There is no doubt the country is in far better economic condition than in the immediate aftermath of the war