ment dried up as
companies adopted a wait-and-see attitude regarding new President
Carlos MESA's willingness to protect investor rights in the face of
increased demands by radical groups that the government expropriate
foreign-owned assets. Real GDP growth in 2003 and 2004 - helped by
increased demand for natural gas in neighboring Brazil - was
positive, but still below the levels seen during the 1990s. Bolivia
remains dependent on foreign aid from multilateral lenders and
foreign governments.

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to
Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation.
Although agriculture is almost all in private hands, farms are small
and inefficient, and the republic traditionally is a net importer of
food. Industry has been greatly overstaffed, one reflection of the
socialist economic structure of Yugoslavia. TITO had pushed the
development of military industries in the republic with the result
that Bosnia hosted a number of Yugoslavia's defense plants. The
interethnic warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80%
from 1992 to 1995 and unemployment to soar. With an uneasy peace in
place, output recovered in 1996-99 at high percentage rates from a
low base; but output growth slowed in 2000-02. Part of the lag in
output was made up in 2003-2004. National-level statistics are
limited and do not capture the large share of black market activity.
The konvertibilna marka (convertible mark or BAM)- the national
currency introduced in 1998 - is now pegged to the euro, and the
Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina has dramatically increased
its reserve holdings. Implementation of privatization, however, has
been slow, and local entities only reluctantly support
national-level institutions. Banking reform accelerated in 2001 as
all the Communist-era payments bureaus were shut down. A sizeable
current account deficit and high unemployment rate remain the two
most serious economic problems. The country receives substantial
amounts of reconstruction assistance and humanitarian aid from the
international community but will have to prepare for an era of
declining assistance.

Botswana
Botswana has maintained one of the world's highest economic
growth rates since independence in 1966. Through fiscal discipline
and sound management, Botswana has transformed itself from one of
the poorest countri