20th November 2025, Skopje - Capital expenditures for 2026 are realistically projected, based on their execution so far and the expectations for the year ahead. In assessing capital investment performance, responsibility cannot rest solely with the Government, as delays often arise from the contractors facing labour shortage and other constrains, Minister of Finance, Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska, pointed out during her guest appearance on MTV newscast.
“The fact is that we have projected capital expenditures at a realistic level. A look at past years shows that capital expenditure execution has consistently fallen short of what was originally projected. Transfers to public enterprises and state-owned joint stock companies were treated as capital expenditures”, the Minister said.
Dimitrieska-Kochoska highlighted that the new methodology, under which these transfers are no longer treated as capital expenditures, provides a more accurate picture of real investments.
“We are now applying a methodology different from the one previously used. Everything that used to be recorded as a transfer to public enterprises and joint-stock companies is no longer recorded as a capital expenditure, but rather as a transfer. If you compare 2025 with 2024, a substantial increase in execution of capital expenditures is noticeable. Simply comparing the new methodology with the old one shows an increase of more than 19%, based on yesterday’s latest data. In other words, under the new methodology, execution of capital expenditures picked up by 19%. Even though some of these transfers were included as capital expenditures last year, but are no longer included this year, we still see an upward trend. If we add them back for comparison purposes, execution of capital expenditures this year is up by more than 47%, although 2025 capital expenditure plan has not been executed in full yet”, Dimitrieska-Kochoska said.
The Minister also pointed out the problem of low execution of funds held on institutions’ own accounts. In 2025, out of the total of Denar 47 billion in capital expenditures, Denar 15 billion is projected from the institutions’ own accounts - a segment where execution has been particularly low.
“Since becoming Minister of Finance, I have made it a priority that institutions deploy the funds in their own accounts. Why? Because when I took office, I asked about the status of the Budget account and the institutions’ own accounts. At that time, Denar 14 billion were sitting idle in these accounts, not visible in the Budget account, while I, as Minister of Finance, had to borrow to cover their expenditures”, the Minister explained during her guest appearance on MTV newscast.
She went on by saying that, for this reason, the Ministry of Finance has introduced the obligation for the institutions to use their own funds for the planned investments, and 2026 Budget projections have been adjusted accordingly.
“As a Minister, I cannot accept institutions keeping these funds idle in their accounts instead of using them, since there are no “own revenues” and “own accounts” - all accounts ultimately belong to the state or the citizens. These funds cannot simply be kept on the accounts, they are to be deployed”, Dimitrieska-Kochoska pointed out.
