20th April 2024, Washington – Economy was and remains a top Government priority. The stance shared on the meetings with both the IMF and the World Bank is that the crisis, to the most extent, is over, thereby our focus is to shift on the economic growth and attaining accelerated growth rates, Deputy Minister of Finance, Filip Nikoloski, pointed out in an interview for Voice of America, within the IMF and WB Spring Meetings he attended in Washington.
“The economy is a top priority for the upcoming government. That was the case in the past, and such is to be in the future. We are not to forget that in these four years we were dealing with a crisis. We faced post-covid crisis, followed by both energy crisis and inflation crisis. Still, we have succeeded in maintaining the living standard of the citizens, wages increased, pensions as well. We have reached all-time high average wage growth in these seven years. The main focus is maintaining the standard of the citizens. In 2023, even a country such as Germany had negative growth of -0.3%. Having in mind that Germany is our major trading partner, how are we to expect, being a small and open economy, to achieve superior growth. When managing crisis, you cannot focus on growth. As said at the IMF and WB meetings, the crisis, for the most part, is behind us, having been dealt with. This will give Macedonian economy a push toward growth rates of around 4% to 5 % in the next four years, contributing to accelerated economy and better living standards of the citizens”, Deputy Minister of Finance said.
He pointed out that in the last four years of crisis, no one had been left on his own, and that the nine sets of anti-crisis measures were directly in support of both the citizens and the business sector. Moreover, as he said, measures and policies for preserving the standard of citizens are being implemented.
“Since 2017 onwards, average wage and minimum wage in Macedonia have been above the consumer basket level. Hence, as per the latest available data, the average wage and the minimum wage amounted to Denar 40,000 and Denar 23,000 respectively, whereas the consumer basket amounted to Denar 60,000. The reason behind maintaining the living standard are the very policies and measures this Government undertakes”, Deputy Minister Nikoloski underlined.
He made a reference to the 2023 achievements, such as highest budget revenues, highest capital investment performance in the amount of EUR 700 million, as well as highest wage growth by 16%.
