Elimination of the unfavorable conditions in bureaucracy, politics and taxing regulations that are the primary items of the list of the factors affecting competition negatively in Turkey bear great importance in this respect. 2 The key factor for this is ensuring development in the principles 3 of governance both for the public and the private sector. A great improvement is recorded in terms of the principles of governance as of the year 2000 and improvements in almost all of the indicators are observed. It is not a coincidence that the improvement in the principles of good governance and the one in macroeconomic performance to intersect. However, it is clear that there is too much to achieve compared to the European countries. Good governance has a key role in ensuring the macroeconomic stability and rendering this process permanent. Therefore, it is one of the pre-requisites of a sustainable growth process. Structural reforms bear great importance in this regard. The research carried out with respect to the OECD countries 4 reveals that the economic growth rates of the countries engaging in rapid and comprehensive structural reforms increase in vast amounts. Additionally, structural reforms are complementary. Halt of the progress of structural reforms in one field prevents the attainment of favorable outcomes of the reforms made in other fields.
Some parts of the subregion sometimes have problems with floods, but in many parts there is permanent lack of even drinking water. Macedonia’s track record within the relations with the World Bank, can be assessed as quite successful. The World Bank has been one of the most important partners in the process of designing and implementing important structural reforms. The strong focus of the World Bank programs on the financial and the enterprise sectors, public administration, and business environment, has proved to be an important trigger and contributor to the productivity gains and real convergence of the economy. Personally, I am deeply grateful to the World Bank and the IMF for the contribution they have made in overcoming our existential problems. It is my personal opinion, however, that our need for the cooperation with and support of the World Bank is more than necessary. We have made some progress, but we have also encountered a lot of problems. The global crisis emphasized a number of structural issues that are bottleneck for the growth of the Macedonian economy. A comparative analysis shows that Macedonia has pretty low level of investments (on average about 15% of GDP during 1997–2007). Thus, further support which will lead to higher investments and higher stock of capital will play an important role for the long-term growth. We substantially lag behind those we want to keep up with. The unemployment rate is still staggering (32.4%).