BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ACTIVITY

The mandate of the USAID BEA project is to improve the environment for conducting business in Macedonia and accelerate economic growth. The Project accomplishes this by facilitating public-private dialogue on economic policy issues, promoting legal and regulatory reform, improving fiscal capacity of local government, and advancing labor policies. BEA also builds and strengthens the cadre of local experts and institutions that will continue to improve business environment in Macedonia after the project ends.

Impact

Given the nature of BEA, the long-term impact of its activities will not fully emerge until systems are firmly in place and operating. However, many results are evident today. For example, the project’s reports have guided GOM’s efforts in improving Macedonia’s foreign trade. The new Public Procurement Law, developed and adopted with BEA support, ensures a transparent, nondiscriminatory and competitive bidding process. BEA’s Bankruptcy Law Comment, Professional Standards and Ethics Code have contributed to the full implementation of the Bankruptcy Law. The MSEC adopted BEA’s Enforcement Strategy for Risk-Based Supervision, which was a key condition for the World Bank’s $30-million Second Programmatic Development Policy Loan.

Legacy