Serbian PM Views Stability as Key to Western Balkan Economic Recovery

Stability is a precondition for economic growth in the Western Balkan states, with figures suggesting that the region’s economy is on the rise, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday.

STRASBOURG (Sputnik) – "Stability is the key word, and I think it is a precondition for economic recovery in the Western Balkans and we see that all European numbers speaking about the economy say it will go down, but all the numbers in the Western Balkans and Serbia will go up," Vucic said on the sidelines of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's (PACE).

The Western Balkans are made up of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, most of which were formerly part of now disbanded Yugoslavia. The countries were severely hit by the 2008 economic crisis.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the economies of the countries of the Western Balkans have undergone a major transformation since the beginning of this century.