Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that the financial cooperation agreement with Hungary is flexible and that Macedonia can make additional loans, after initially agreeing on a state-to-state loan of 500 million EUR. Mickoski was asked why was the loan reduced, after he was announcing a loan of a billion EUR.

Why should we take the additional 500 million EUR now, and have our citizens pay interest, when we can draw it in January? It’s an open framework. We want to make something out of nothing, and we are putting in hard work to make sure Macedonia is not brought into a subservient position. We want to be independent from anyone, other than our citizens, said Mickoski during his visit to Ohrid.

Mickoski said that the Government has already provided more than a billion – in loans and in investments, and that currently Macedonia needs half a billion that will be evenly distributed between supporting private businesses, under the same favorable terms of the loan, and between municipal infrastructure. Businesses will be able to loan funds at 3.25 percent interest with two years grace period, but will be required to invest three times more than the money they loan.