Today’s Graph

In the past several years the countries in southeast Europe reported high economic growth but it was associated with rising external imbalances in several states. The regional economies are facing overheating due to the large current account deficits and high levels of external debt. Moreover, some countries report high external debt levels and balance sheet exposures, which could be a source of additional problems.

Croatia is the most attractive tourist destination among the southeast European countries with more than 11 million visitors last year, official statistics data showed. With population of just below 4.5 million, Croatia attracts twice more visitors and is the leader in the region in the past five years. Bulgaria ranked second, attracting some 7.7 million tourists in 2007, followed by Romania with nearly 7.0 million visitors.

Bulgaria, Slovenia and Macedonia were the only countries that managed to reduce their general government external debt last year, while all other countries in the region registered an increase, reports of the Word Bank and the countries’ national statistical offices showed.