Since the beginning of the year until today, 37 craftsmen in Ohrid have closed their shops, Alfa Television reported. The reason lies in the economic crisis and excessive electricity bills, says the regional craft chamber.

It has never happened before that trades disappear so drastically and on such a large scale, but it is no longer sustainable to work. Most of the craftsmen cannot cover the costs with the turnover they realize during a month. We are small craftsmen, independent contractors, and self-employed and for us, first of all, the bills are too high. We have asked the government for help since the end of August, but they say there is no answer.

The initial response was from the government, your request was received and delivered to there and there, from there and there it was delivered to there and there and we are now waiting to see where our request has reached, said Saso Bogoeski, vice president of the craft chamber of Macedonia.

During the covid pandemic, the government deceived us by saying that we received some salary, and then a certain number of experts were asked to return the money, but we are also going through that, we struggled somehow, but now we can’t anymore, say the craftsmen.