Determinants of economic growth in South - East Europe: A panel data approach

The objective of this paper is to reveal the main determinants of the economic growth in South-East European countries. Real GDP growth rate represents economic growth in the analysis. We perform a panel data analysis for 7 countries with similar economic surroundings: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. The observation period is 1995 - 2007. Empirical results indicate that Consumer price index, Current account/GDP, Exchange rate, General government balance, General government expenditure, Population, Large scale privatization and Price liberalization are some of the main factors on which Southeast European countries policy makers should focus in order to reach significant increase in economic growth.