4th May 2025, Skopje – Public debt declined after quite some time not only as a percentage, but also in absolute terms, Minister of Finance said in an interview for TV Alfa.
“You are likely to hear it a lot that austerity measures are applied, being prudent and the Minister of Finance taking on a somewhat stricter approach in certain circumstances. There is no other option than being prudent and cost-effective. Borrowing in recent years was excessive. The citizens can now tell whether we undertake prudent and cost-effective actions, with a reduced debt of EUR 36 million in absolute terms, or whether those before us worked prudently and cost-effectively, when the debt increased by EUR 292 million during the same period, i.e. beginning of the year, the last one and this one”, Minister of Finance emphasized.
Cost-effective actions, reduced non-productive costs and efforts to boost economic activity, as she said, resulted in reduction of the public debt by 4.7 p.p., accounting for 57.7% of GDP. Thereby, challenges from the period before were considerable, requiring for the finances to be consolidate and public funds to be spent prudently.
She reiterated that she remains dedicated to the projections for 3.7% economic growth for this year, despite the lower expectations of the international financial institutions, also announcing the Supplementary Budget process to be launched in July, prior to the local elections.
“As I would say, minor re-shifting of resources or, as the team in the Ministry of Finance would say, reallocation will take place as regards the financing of municipal projects. If you remember, the funds were envisaged in the Budget, but were allocated in the “Functions of the State” organizational code, since we could not know beforehand the interest of the municipalities, their preference of projects, whether they are to be financed through the Ministry of Transport or the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Sports. Now, we have a fairly good grasp of where and how much funds are to be reallocated, that is why the minor re-shifting of funds, I would say, will take place, with the timing of the Supplementary Budget somewhere in July, prior to the local elections”, Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska said.
