"The war brand attached to us remains a problem," Brano Vujicic, a Bosnian IT entrepreneur, told The New York Times on Sunday, February 8.
In 1992, Bosnia fell into a devastating civil war left 200,000 people dead and millions displaced.
In the final months of the war, Serb forces overran the city of Srebrenica, killing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in one of the most shocking massacres in modern history.
The war damaged the country's infrastructure and slashed the gross domestic product (GDP) by 75 percent.
The 1995 Dayton peace accord ended the war by splitting Bosnia into two ethnically-based autonomous regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic.
The country of 4.5 million has since been largely dependant on foreign aid.
"Because people who want to invest here still can’t get over the past," said Vujicic.
While much of the production capacity has been restored, the Bosnian economy still faces considerable difficulties.
Foreign direct investments slumped to €1,08 billion in 2008 compared with €1,628 billion the year before.
High unemployment and a large trade deficit remain cause for concern.
- Bureaucracy
Bosnian business people complain that the regulatory system created by the Dayton deal also remains an obstacle to economic growth.
"This overabundance of public sector officials is impeding growth," Irena Jankulov, an economist in Sarajevo with the International Monetary Fund, which monitors the country’s economic performance, told The Times.
The Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic are run by 160 government ministers.
The government bureaucracy reportedly absorbs a staggering 50 percent of the GDP and is hampering economic growth.
The unnecessary duplication of agencies in the two regions is also undermining the economy and hampering business.
For most, navigating a byzantine regulatory system remains a hassle.
According to World Bank figures, the foundation of business in Bosnia takes more than 60 days compared with 5 days in Hungary or 9 days in Afghanistan.
But in this grim situation, some remain hopeful that economics could help enhance the stability and unity between Bosnians of all ethnicities.
"Business is going on between the disparate ethnic groups," said Ljubo Kovac, the Serb owner of a wood-processing company, noting that his clients include dozens of Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats.
"It is the politicians who create all the problems."
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