Skopje, February 2023 – Blerta Kondri, a lecturer at the Faculty of Technical Sciences at “Mother Teresa” University in Skopje, successfully completed her PhD dissertation entitled “Economic consequences of the global financial crisis (2007-2008) and the Covid-19 crisis: case study countries of the Western Balkans”, at the Faculty of Economics at the University “Saint Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje thus earning the title of Doctor of Economic Sciences.

The aim of the paper was the theoretical and empirical research of the economic consequences caused by the two biggest crises of the XXI century which negatively affected not only the economy of these countries but also the global economy as a whole.

Between adequate econometric methods and selected macroeconomic variables, the paper draws important conclusions on their impact on the countries of the Western Balkans with special emphasis on the Republic of North Macedonia, thus contributing to the empirical literature as it is one of the first attempts to address in parallel the two major crises between dynamic analysis and some econometric models.

The defense of the doctoral dissertation was carried out in the presence of the dissertation committee, Mihail Petkovski Ph.D. (mentor), Suzana Makresanska Mladenovska Ph.D. (head of the committee), Borce Trenovski Ph.D. (member), Elena Naumovska Ph.D. (member), Kiril Jovanovski Ph.D. (member).

Raising the professional credibility of new academic staff is not only good news for us, but also for students and the whole society in general.