Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska – Kocoska said that one commercial bank agreed to subsidize a portion of the interest that businesses will have to pay on the Hungarian loan lines. The Government borrowed 500 million EUR from Hungary, half of which will go to support businesses who will co-fund development projects, but the necessary use of commercial banks to distribute the loans is adding to the total cost.

We said that the interest rate the businesses will pay will remain at 3.25 percent. The goal of the Government is to distribute the funds with the interest under which the Government took the loan. And the discussion was whether the banks could in some way subsidize the interest rate, although since 2011, over 650 million EUR with lent under various credit lines where the Government subsidized the interest rate, Minister Dimitrieska said.

Prime Minister Mickoski also discussed the issue today, saying that he has instructed the Finance Minister to meet with the Banking Association on Sunday, and that he will also attend the meeting. “We tell the banks that we should all, together, share the risk. For a fifth month now we are looking for ways to provide soft credit lines for the businesses, which will then spur the Macedonian economy and help our citizens”, Mickoski said.