The Electricity Sector in FYR Macedonia

The Electricity Sector in FYR Macedonia
Author: Alexander F. Tieman
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2011-02-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1455216771

This paper describes the current state of the Macedonian electricity sector. It looks at ongoing structural changes, driven by the gradual adoption of the EU acquis on energy, and comes up with estimates for electricity subsidies. It concludes by discussing the longer term outlook and sketching policy options.

FYR Macedonia Green Growth Country Assessment

FYR Macedonia Green Growth Country Assessment
Author: Erika Jorgensen and Maria Shkaratan
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 276
Release:
Genre:
ISBN:

This green growth country assessment for FYR Macedonia defines and assesses the economic costs and benefits of a shift to greener growth for FYR Macedonia, with a focus on climate action. Multi-sector analytic work tied together by macroeconomic modeling generated a detailed green growth path to 2050. While addressing today's economic challenges, policymakers need to keep the long-term in mind, both the likely impact of a changing climate on water, agriculture, and infrastructure and growing obligations to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This consideration is particularly important for decisions on long-lived infrastructure such as power supply, irrigation, or urban streets, water distribution, and sewers. Innovative modeling of water as a constraint on growth as the climate becomes warmer and drier quantified the tough tradeoffs that will be needed to balance competing demands from agriculture, the power sector, and municipalities and industry. A greener energy sector needs to aim at increased supply security, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and increased supply efficiency: more generation to avoid blackouts and expensive imports; lignite and oil replaced by gas and renewables in the supply mix; and aggressive energy efficiency measures in industry, buildings, and households. Providing better transport services while containing accelerating emissions growth will require better fuel efficiency, more use of rail and public transport, and an integrated approach to urban transport that maximizes local cobenefits. Urban areas, especially the capital city of Skopje hold the potential to lead on greener growth. In recent years, urban sprawl, driven by growth in the number of single family houses that use wood for heating and private cars for commuting, has pushed up the energy intensity of urban life as well as the cost of delivering infrastructure services to a less-dense community. The country also needs to plan for the impact of a changing climate on the reliability and quality of infrastructure services. Planners need to decide whether to build infrastructure to be more resilient today or wait to see what happens and spend more on maintenance and rehabilitation (or replacement) later. For FYR Macedonia, the top priorities for infrastructure adaptation over the next decade include urban drainage systems, health and education facilities and municipal buildings. The main local cobenefit of mitigation will be reduction of air pollution, which is among the highest in Europe. Particulate matter pollution from industry, the power sector, and road paving can be abated through better equipment while the other large and unusual source of air pollution--the widespread use of wood for heat by urban households--can be reduced in the near-term by more modern stoves and in the long-term by better heating options. An economy-wide macroeconomic assessment estimates the impact on growth and employment of packages of green growth actions across sectors and provides advice on priorities for public investment. Climate investments pose costs upfront but provide benefits both now and later. Adaptation interventions (which protect tomorrow’s output from climate damage) are found to be less costly to growth and employment in the short-term than mitigation measures (which reduce greenhouse gas emissions) once sector results are integrated into a general equilibrium model. Under a ‘green’ climate action scenario, moderate adaptation measures in agriculture and water and incremental expenses in the climate-proofing of physical infrastructure would amount to the equivalent of around 0.1 percent of annual GDP, while moderate mitigation measures would require the mobilization of resources constituting about one percent of annual GDP. More ambitious climate action, under a ‘super-green’ scenario, would require water sector investments that reach one percent of GDP by 2015 while mitigation investments require two percent of GDP by 2020. Green climate action would together generate short-term losses to national income of more than two percent if financing is mobilized domestically, while super-green action induces even bigger losses. However, both moderate and ambitious climate action promise a medium- to long-term boost in the level of GDP—reaching 1.5 to 2 percent by 2050.

The Irregular Pendulum of Democracy

The Irregular Pendulum of Democracy
Author: Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2023-04-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031256093

This book argues that the backsliding or stagnation of democracy should be interpreted in a wider perspective on irregular movements towards and away from contemporary liberal democracy. This a perspective couched by a metaphor, namely the 'pendulum of democracy', which the author has constructed to suggest that democratic regimes may swing between a democratic end (fully developed liberal democracy) and a semi-authoritarian end (competitive authoritarianism). The pendulum does not have a predictable frequency. Democratization may lead to irregular movements back and forth. It is easier to analyze such movements of the pendulum when democracy is not consolidated yet (for instance, in the three post-Yugoslav political regimes mentioned above), as democratic institutions and processes are not yet stable. For this reason, this book analyses the swing of unconsolidated democracy away from the democratic end in the cases of today’s Serbia and Montenegro and the swing back towards liberal democracy in the case of North Macedonia which - until 2017 - had been developing into a competitive authoritarian regime, but then embarked on the road to democratic recovery.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 62
Release: 2014-07-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498343376

Growth accelerated to 3.1 percent in 2013, driven by a positive net exports contribution. The broad policy direction is supportive of near term macroeconomic stability. The key challenge is to transition from stability into an acceleration of medium term growth. Uncertainty with respect to EU accession remains, and weighs on longer term prospects.

Public Infrastructure in the Western Balkans

Public Infrastructure in the Western Balkans
Author: Mr.Ruben V Atoyan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2018-02-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484341511

An assessment of public infrastructure development in the Western Balkans. The paper quantifies the large gaps across various sectors/dimensions, evaluates current infrastructure plans, and discusses funding options available to countries in the region. The paper also identifies important bottlenecks for increased infrastructure investment. Finally, the paper quantifies potential growth benefits from addressing infrastructure gaps, concluding that boosting the quantity and quality of infrastructure is vital for raising economic growth and accelerating income convergence with the EU. The paper concludes with country-specific policy recommendations.

Minerals Yearbook

Minerals Yearbook
Author: Mines Bureau
Publisher:
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781411341753

The region of Europe and Central Eurasia defined in this volume encompasses territory that extends from the Atlantic Coast of Europe to the Pacific Coast of the Russian Federation. It includes the British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland (a self- governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark). Included are mineral commodity outlook tables, plus global overview research for particularly commodities within a specific regions/countries are presented throughout the text. Manufacturers of these metals and commodities, along with trade brokers that may specialize in imports and exports, political scientists, and economists may also be interested in this volume. Students pursuing research on specific metals and mineral commodities for world economy courses may be interested in this volume.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2008-03-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451826141

Macedonia’s economic performance under the program has remained strong, reflecting the authorities’ commitment to build on the progress made and to advance the reform agenda. The average inflation rate was 2.3 percent, although it started to pick up recently owing to a relatively high increase in food prices, reflecting the global trend. On the expenditure side, the authorities will improve the quality of spending and redirect public spending to more productive uses, such as health, education, and infrastructure.

Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems

Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems
Author: Jochen Bundschuh
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 1373
Release: 2010-07-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0415404231

This book provides an introduction to the scientific fundamentals of groundwater and geothermal systems. In a simple and didactic manner the different water and energy problems existing in deformable porous rocks are explained as well as the corresponding theories and the mathematical and numerical tools that lead to modeling and solving them. This approach provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the basic physical laws of thermoporoelastic rocks, the partial differential equations representing these laws and the principal numerical methods, which allow finding approximate solutions of the corresponding mathematical models. The book also presents the form in which specific useful models can be generated and solved. The text is introductory in the sense that it explains basic themes of the systems mentioned in three areas: engineering, physics and mathematics. All the laws and equations introduced in this book are formulated carefully based on fundamental physical principles. This way, the reader will understand the key importance of mathematics applied to all the subjects. Simple models are emphasized and solved with numerous examples. For more sophisticated and advanced models the numerical techniques are described and developed carefully. This book will serve as a synoptic compendium of the fundamentals of fluid, solute and heat transport, applicable to all types of subsurface systems, ranging from shallow aquifers down to deep geothermal reservoirs. The book will prove to be a useful textbook to senior undergraduate and graduate students, postgraduates, professional geologists and geophysicists, engineers, mathematicians and others working in the vital areas of groundwater and geothermal resources.

Dams and Reservoirs, Societies and Environment in the 21st Century

Dams and Reservoirs, Societies and Environment in the 21st Century
Author: Luis Berga
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 1373
Release: 2006-02-15
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1134138504

Water resources stored by dams and reservoirs play an essential role in water resource management, hydropower and flood control. Where there is an extensive network of dam infrastructures, dams have made a major contribution to economic and social development, providing considerable storage capacity per capita. However, dams and reservoirs may also have an important social and environmental impact, and should be studied within the framework of integrated water resource management and sustainable development. Dams and Reservoirs, Societies and Environment in the 21st Century presents the latest research on the role played by dams and reservoirs in 21st century societies, in developed, emergent and developing countries. It analyses the viability of dams and suggests alternative solutions from a holistic perspective, considering the technical, economic, social and environmental aspects. Other issues covered include the social acceptability of dams, public involvement and dam awareness. The book covers subjects ranging from dam engineering, through the benefits and drawbacks of dams, to their social and environmental impact, and contains numerous case studies of the constructive contributions that reservoirs have made to water development and management. The book is a valuable resource for professional and dam engineers, water managers, governmental organizations and commercial enterprises responsible for dam development and management.