The aluminium smelter in the Bosnian town of Mostar has fallen eerily silent since its electricity was cut in July, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The only visitors to what was once a model factory in former Yugoslavia are staff filling in redundancy papers. The closure of debt-laden Aluminij Mostar is symptomatic of the challenges facing countries across the Balkans as they try to keep loss-making state-owned businesses inherited from the communist era afloat in market economies.
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