BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 10. The integration of companies from Europe and Central Asia into the global economy and regional markets is of utmost importance, said Ivailo Izvorski, Chief Economist for the Europe and Central Asia region at the World Bank at the presentation of the World Bank's 2024 World Development Report (WDR) in Baku, Trend reports.
Addressing the event, Izvorski highlighted that there is an overabundance of small enterprises in Europe and Central Asia.
"The problem is that if companies do not grow, they cannot adopt foreign technologies and lack the scale necessary for innovation. The main obstacle is often the limited market. When the market is small, companies do not expand. Therefore, integration into the global economy and regional markets is critical," he noted.
He also emphasized that increasing business size does not always lead to greater efficiency. Many large companies remain low-performing.
Another key challenge for the region is the influence of state-owned enterprises, which continue to exert disproportionate power.
"In the energy sector, for example, state-owned enterprises control 100 percent of transportation, 80 percent of electricity generation from fossil fuels, and nearly 70 percent of distribution. In some Central Asian countries, the share of state-owned enterprises in competitive sectors, such as bakeries and stores, reaches 70-80 percent," Izvorski added.
Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel