Macedonia gained its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, but experienced a serious economic downturn over the next five years, with hyper-inflation over 600% in 1992-4. It suffered the social, political and economic effects of the Kosovo crisis in 1999, when it sustained an influx of over 320,000 Kosovar refugees. Macedonia has the highest official unemployment figures in Europe (41.7% in 1997) and this was further affected by the loss of both Serbian markets and of trade transit through Serbia following the Kosovo crisis. International recognition of the new state has also been problematic, since Greece has argued that its existence amounts to a territorial claim on the northern Greek province of Macedonia, leading to a Greek trade blockade through the port of Thessaloniki, removed in 1996. These sensitivities have led to the retention of the interim name of The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
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