9th December 2020, Skopje – Despite the negative economic growth in the third quarter, improvement tendency is observed. Following the sharp decline in the second quarter, gross investments and public consumption experienced growth, indicating that undertaken anti-crisis measures yield results, Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, pointed out at the TOP 100 event, organized by the Economic Chamber of North-West Macedonia.
Drop of 14.9% in the second quarter this year, when the crisis started, was mitigated to -3.3% in the third quarter, with a positive contribution of gross investments and public consumption which, on the other hand, was underpinned by the measures undertaken by the Government aimed at injecting liquidity in the economy.
Besimi underlined that following the high drop of 34.4% of gross investments in the second quarter, they surged by 4.2% in Q3, as a result of the investments growth in construction works, as well as machines and equipment.
In addition, the Minister emphasized, consumption decline in the third quarter is mitigated to -1.2% from the high -9.1% in the previous quarter. This is mainly a result of the fact that public consumption surged by high 13.5% in real terms, as a result of the increased spending to support the categories most affected by the pandemic.
Besimi stressed that measures within the fourth set of measures will continue to be implemented in the period to come, providing support to the business sector, such as the financial support to the employers for wage payment, the interest-free credit line with a grant component, as well as the state loan guarantee, which will provide for better access to finances.
