18th September 2024, Skopje – Following the adoption of the Law on Borrowing from Hungarian Export – Import Bank, Loan Facility Agreement will be signed at the beginning of October, to be disbursed in one drawdown. Municipalities are already expecting these funds which they will use for development projects, with the business sector being the driver of accelerated economic activity.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Nikolche Jankulovski, said at his guest appearance on TV 24, pointing out that, in addition to the implementation of the respective bilateral agreement which intensifies the economic cooperation with Hungary, the country continues its cooperation with the other international creditors. “Cooperation with the World Bank will continue, with a special focus on both the existing projects experiencing delays in their implementation and the future cooperation.
The bilateral loan with Hungary will not halt the cooperation with the other international creditors”, Deputy Minister said. He also added that the priority is for the loan to be disbursed as soon as possible, thus providing support to both the municipalities and the business sector.
“Municipalities have shown considerable interest – they have all submitted total of 357 projects, which are in the process of evaluation at the moment. We expect for the funds invested to create value added and contribute to better living conditions, also providing for implementation of capital investments by the end of this year”, Jankulovski underlined.
As for the funds geared towards the business sector, he said that they will be intended for the domestic companies, above all those operating in the field of production, all to the end of boosting GDP growth, thus reducing both budget deficit and public debt.
As Jankulovski said, few more details about the criteria remain to be defined. “Rate of interest payable by the companies will be the same as the one payable under the respective loan extended by the Hungarian bank, i.e. 3.25%. The goal is for as many companies as possible to use the loan funds, which will result in job creation”, Deputy Minister of Finance pointed out.
