Macedonia is a landlocked country on the Balkan Peninsula
in southeastern Europe. Formerly the southernmost
part of the Socialist Federated Republic of
Yugoslavia, the country’s 2 million inhabitants gained
their independence from Yugoslavia on September 8,
1991. The country had long been the poorest of the
Yugoslavian provinces, and the years following independence
were difficult as the economy stumbled into market
economics while suffering the ravages of a region
wracked by war. Macedonian businesses were no longer
protected competitors in the Yugoslavian marketplace,
and many found themselves unprepared for the shock of
open markets and competition.