Assisting low-wage and informal workers in the context of COVID-19 in BIH OSF/FOD

Carbon (CO2) pricing is a fiscal instrument that governments use to encourage companies and other emitters to switch to renewable energy sources and adopt new technologies to reduce emissions, to achieve national and international climate goals.

Use of natural materials has been growing continuously in the world. With the current growth rates and population increase rates, global demand will in 2050 require resources of three planets like ours. Current increase in demand, limited supply of certain resources and disrupted supply chain cause a significant increase in prices and threaten to give rise to a new economic crisis, demonstrating the fact that the current models of the use of resources are far from being sustainable, while they may potentially cause instability.

Business organizations approaches to circular economy are based on the concept of circular business model that “articulates the logic of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value to its broader range of stakeholders while minimizing ecological and social costs.”

The last time the minimum wage was determined in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was in 2016, and there is no doubt that it needs to be raised. However, an excessive and sudden increase may lead to undesired consequences and jeopardize the very groups of workers this help is intended for. Inter alia, it may lead to the rise in youth and women unemployment, threaten the competitiveness of private sector and lead to significant rise in wages in public companies, even in cases of workers who currently earn significantly above the minimum wage. Therefore, the key question is how to strike a balance between real needs and unrealistic demands and this analysis is aimed at offering several guidelines to that effect.

We have explored informal markets in the four South-East Europe economies, investigated drivers for engaging in informal activities and provided policy recommendations for reducing the informal sector. The study comprises findings of both primary and secondary research. Primary research included a quantitative survey on a representative sample of around 4 thousand respondents across four countries.

CPU advocates for the broader debate about this topic, which is rather limited today, to support the processes and related decisions. This debate should bring closer divided opinions about ways to maximize contributions of those important assets to the economy and the society as whole. More precisely, we should look into market developments, telecoms’ performances, and business models to address following questions: How to improve the quality and affordability of services; What is an optimal / expected contribution of telecoms to productivity gains and digital economy development?; What are expected financial and fiscal implications/benefits to the economy and citizens of telecom operations in FBiH?; What are necessary deregulations to support effective sector development?

COVID-19 crisis has had a tremendous economic impact in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). It is estimated that the country will enter a recession of 5%, which implies a number of negative economic indicators – decrease in exports, rise of unemployment and possible rise of interest rates, budget instability and the like. Of particular concern is the rise of unemployment and decrease in BH diaspora support, which is very important for the BH economy. COVID-19 has mainly endangered the service sector, i.e. all businesses that depend on the so-called "moment of truth" – the direct contact with customers. There are many micro-enterprises and crafts operating within the service sector, while freelancers are mainly exposed to the crisis due to the decrease in global demand for their services (exports).

The impact of socio-economic factors on student achievements during their education and long-term educational outcomes are one of the challenges that have so far passed under the radar of educational policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In numerous reform efforts to improve the education system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a strategy that would address the importance of socio-economic opportunities in the education of individuals was missing, which implies that this issue is not addressed at the educational practices level.

The analysis shows research on how the banking sector in B&H can improve economic growth, and how sector reforms contained in the Extended Fund Facility program with IMF can influence on credit expansion and the stability of the financial sector.

No matter the destiny of the IMF arrangement, for the final finding of the solution when it comes to BH Telecom, it is necessary to conduct the due diligence analysis and to agree upon a plan of future work of BH Telecom as soon as possible.

Bosnia and Herzegovina urgently needs an improvement of business climate and one of the key tools to accomplish this goal is the introduction of electronic services.

This analysis suggests few steps aiming to halt the decrease of the average class size in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and points out the necessity of shifting the focus on teachers' competencies and qualities as a precondition for better education.

The analysis of 'The Advantages of TIMSS Introduction into BiH Educational System' contains conclusions and recommendations for its implementation and suggests that regular conduction of TIMSS is necessary, since this kind of international testing enables continuous monitoring and comparison with other systems and provides a clear picture on what has to be done.