Belgian-Macedonian Business Club

Construction, other transport services and computer services are the sectors where a competitive advantage of the Macedonian economy has been identified. Moreover, computer and IT services have recorded strong growth, especially in the period from 2012 to 2022.

Computer services are one of the most promising sectors that should be used for stronger economic growth. The opportunities for regional cooperation and good policy making contribute to the promotion and strengthening of other less competitive sectors in the economy.

In the paper “Hierarchical Economic Analysis of International Trade in Services”, the authors the authors Filip Naskovski, Martin Bojkovski, Dimitar Peshevski and Dimitar Trajanov investigate the dynamics of global trade in services, including 137 countries, in order to uncover the connectivity, flows of trade in services, as well as the competitive advantages of individual countries, including our economy, within global and regional trade ecosystems.

Antoher paper by authors Vesna Garvanlieva Andonova and Borche Trenovski shows that improving public sector efficiency can improve fiscal space and have positive impacts on economic growth in Southeast European countries. The paper “Evaluating the Efficiency of Public Spending in Southeast European Countries – Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Technique” investigates the performance of public spending in Southeast European (SEE) countries for the period 2010 – 2021, through non-parametric analysis, i.e., efficiency frontier assessment.

The authors also use this technique to assess the efficiency of spending in education, health, and infrastructure. The authors conclude that countries’ performance varies in terms of the efficiency of their public spending and that there is room for countries in the region to improve efficiency in all three sectors.

Find the full article here.

The presentation was done in the National Bank within the framework of the 53rd session of the Researchers’ Club. The next session is planned for March 2025.