7 June 2021, Skopje – Financial support for the business sector is of exceptional importance for the economic recovery, as a result of which government fiscal stimulus needs to continue. We will strive for the new measures to also encourage new investments, expand the capacities and create jobs, Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, said at the Balkan Business Week Conference, covering the topic “Economic Situation of the Balkans 2021 – 2022 (Possibilities and Perspectives)”. He underlined that this is what IMF recommended as well, being also a practice in the economies worldwide, as well as the nearby countries, in particular in Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo which, like our country, adopted new sets of measures this year, geared towards supporting the business sector and the citizens.
Moreover, Besimi pointed out that speed of recovery of the global economy will greatly depend on the additional fiscal support in the advanced economies and the speed of vaccination in the course of the year.
With respect to the economy of the Republic of North Macedonia, high-frequency data of the State Statistical Office are a testimony of the already commenced recovery. Domestic trade in the first three months in 2021 experienced increased turnover by 2.9% in nominal terms, construction works in the first quarter of 2021 grew by 4.6% in nominal terms, while industrial production picked up by 3% in the course of the first four months in 2021, registering a high annual growth of 46.1% in April. Exceptionally favorable trends were registered at manufacturing in April, surging by 64.3%, in particular as regards production in TIDZ, with manufacture of machinery and equipment, manufacture of electrical equipment and manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers recording a multi-fold increase.
“Furthermore, in the medium term, we remain focused on finding solutions geared towards growth acceleration, which accounted for around 2.5% in the past decade, before the crisis outbreak. We aim to intensify the economic growth, thus achieving economic growth rates higher than 5% in the medium term. This is planned to be attained by creating more competitive business climate, being export-oriented with firm support for entrepreneurship and innovations, via better access to finance and technology adaptation, modernization of the sectors with comparative advantage, tax reform, as well as by combatting the grey economy, digitalizing the economy, developing human resources by making investments in the field of education and science and the health sector, through measures aimed at intensifying the activity of the working able population, orientation towards “green economy”, Besimi pointed out.
Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska-Bezhoska, Deputy Prime Minister, Fatmir Bytyqi, President of the IBMHS, FORUM Institute, Heidelberg, Germany, Ulrich Zeitel, Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee of the German Parliament and member of the Bureau of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Carl Lamers, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Stopanska banka AD Skopje, Diomidis Nikoletopoulos, also delivered their speech at the Conference. The Conference was organized by the Institute for Business and Management, Heidelberg Skopje and the Academy of Banking and Information Technology (ABIT).
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