BALKANS: Economic Crisis Takes Harsh Toll

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

SARAJEVO, Jul 11 2010 (IPS) - It’s been quite a while since Mevliha Cebo enjoyed the job she was educated for: a pre-school teacher in her native Sarajevo.

For six years, Mevliha, 52, has been working as a chef at a small restaurant in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Kandilj. A typical day is spent preparing omelettes covered with sour cream or embedded in tasty beef sausages for her customers.

“What you see is all home-grown or home-made honey, bread, eggs coming from my mother’s farm nearby, and jam, sausages, and tomatoes from her garden,” Mevliha says. “That is what keeps this business going, and also feeds my extended family of 20.”

Mevliha says her family has endured many financial crises in the last two decades. She hopes she will tide over this one as well.

Mevliha’s story is similar to many others in the Balkans, which has been impacted hard by the 2008 economic crisis. It came just as the nation was on the cusp of recovery after many turbulent years of war and bloodshed. Layoffs and shriveling incomes are now compelling many like Mevliha to stoically adopt new professions and lifestyles in dealing with economic hardships.

“First there was the war between 1992 and 1995. I lost my job as a pre- school teacher then, only to get it back for a couple of years, but lost it again in 2004 because of budgetary cuts,” she says. “I had to look for another source of livelihood. So here I am cooking breakfast for others.”

But her worries are hardly over even after finding a new vocation. Mevliha’s two sons, who graduated with degrees in banking and veterinary medicine in 2008, are having a tough time finding jobs in Sarajevo.

Unemployment in Bosnia-Herzegovina stands at 40 percent, according to official estimates. It was expected that the region would recover because of government efforts to rebuild the country between 1995 and 2000 after years of war. But it failed to transition into a market economy, largely because of corruption and a poor investment climate. Since the economic crisis began in 2008, the pace of development has slowed down even further.

“It’s a new distortion for people,” Zijad Jusufovic, 45, who works as a tourist guide in Sarajevo, told IPS. “We were just returning to normal life, but are consumed by hopelessness again. After years of war, life should have become better by now, particularly for the young. But they haven’t seen what a decent life looks like.”

Even for Slovenia, whose people are known for their rich lifestyle in the Balkans, fortunes have dramatically changed since 2008.

Apart from its involvement in the EU’s costly bailout of Greece last month, Slovenia is reeling under painful reform of its pension system, which is putting an additional strain on the nation’s economy. Slovenia had to issue state bonds to collect 387 million euros of its share of the 110 billionn euros bailout of Greece, a sum that amounts to 3.6 percent of its annual budget in 2010.

The Law on Small Work, a new law introduced by the government in June, sets to limit the working hours for students and employed individuals to 20 hours per month. There were no limits to working hours before this. This new law caused violent protests by students last month. They pelted eggs and stones at the parliamentary building in Ljubljana, and had to be dispersed by the police.

“We were so well off compared to the others in the region. These protests are therefore understandable,” Rado Pezdir, a young university teacher told IPS. “Now people have to count every euro cent.”

Like others in former Yugoslavia, Slovenes are now banking on the government to solve the problems.

“That is something that can barely change all over (former Yugoslavia),” Pezdir says. “People are apathetic here; they want full shops and money to buy all these goods, but no one thinks they have to work hard for that or face a job loss. The state should provide for all, they believe, but that cannot happen now.”

In Serbia, the biggest nation of the region with a population of 7.4 million, people have similar expectations from the government. Unemployment here has touched a record high of almost 30 percent since 2008.

Since 2009, 250,000 people lost their jobs, according to official estimates — which equals the total number of job losses between 2001 and 2008.

“Statistics can be misleading,” street vendor Zoran Stamenkovic told IPS in downtown Belgrade. “I eat cabbage, you eat meat. But statistics will mislead you to say we eat sarma (traditional Balkans dish of cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat).”

The state is unable to generate more jobs, there are fewer investments, and the number of people applying for unemployment benefits is growing.

“My unemployment benefits give me 10,000 dinars (120 dollars), which is enough to buy utilities only. It means survival for a family of four is tough in Belgrade,” says Nikolina Strajic (43) who recently lost her job in one of Belgrade’s supermarkets.

“But I’m happy I did not take any bank loan for the renovation of our apartment. We’ll have to rely on my husband’s salary of 45,000 dinars (535 dollars). I hope we can manage until I find a job. I don’t know when that will be possible.”