Research fellow
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)
Nikola Kjurchiski is a resource economist with more than five years’ experience in researching and writing about resource economies, commodity markets, and public policy reforms. As a senior research fellow at the Center for Resource Economics (RANEPA), Mr. Kjurchiski has published several academic, peer-reviewed articles, also he has worked on various projects related to natural resource policies, regulations, and international best practices recommendations.
Commercial projects include projects related to commodity price forecast, M&As, company restructuring and IPO preparation, with companies as Norilsk Nickel, BP, and AFK Sistema, as well as adapting mining tax regimes- a project implemented by the World Bank.
Mr. Kjurchiski is a member of the Ambassador’s Club at Macedonia 2025. He holds Ph.D. (ABD) in political science and MSc. in change management from RANEPA, as well as BSc. in computer science.
Resource Abundance - Curse or Blessing?
Resource abundant countries paradoxically seem to show poorer economic performance and a higher level of poverty compared to other countries. This phenomenon is known as “resource curse”. However, not all resource economies show poor performance, some of them have used it to their advantage and greatly developed their economies and living standards. Resource rents enabled a process of rapid economic growth and development in some resource economies that subsequently led to the modernisation of the country not just in an economic sense, but also in social, cultural and political one.
Resource economies are especially affected by the issue of poverty, mainly because of the rent-seeking, corruption, public sector inefficiency, and lack of economic freedom, which as a result produces weak institutions. Stronger economic and political institutions are more capable of managing the resource rents that ultimately can contribute to superior results in economic growth and social development. Reforms in the financial and tax reforms are also important. Micro-financing of a wide range of social groups, especially to kindle the entrepreneurial spirit of the poor. Today the supply of loans, savings, and other basic financial services, are accessible only to 10% of the global population. Each country has its own specifics and social and political habits and there is no general template that solves all the problems, but each country approach is unique and should be crafted to the specific country. However, implementing and enforcing the right policies is only possible through strong and independent institutions and this is one of the key aspects that make the difference between sustainable developing country or failed state. Right reforms on paper are not enough alone, if not implemented and enforced equally. Hence, whether resource abundance could be curse or blessing, depends mostly on the institutional strength of that particular country.