The draft budget for 2023 foresees total revenues of 282 billion denars (4.58 billion euros), expenditures of 324.8 billion denars (5.28 billion euros) and a budget deficit at the level of 4.6 percent of the planned GDP. Economic growth is expected to be 2.9 percent, and inflation 7.1 percent. External debt is expected to be below 60 percent.

The opposition VMRO-DPMNE reacts that this is the bulkiest budget and a deficit that is beyond all frameworks of sustainability.

The Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, indicated at a press conference yesterday that the proposed budget aims to maintain economic growth, to regularly fulfill all the obligations of the state and to support reforms and European integration processes.

In conditions of global crisis, the preparation of the budget remains a challenge for every country. At the global level, the economy will have slow growth, and the same applies to the growth of the economy of the European Union, which is expected to be 3.2 percent this year, and 0.7 percent next year. It also reflects on the growth dynamics of our economy, said Besimi.

The budget for next year, as Besimi said, contains the key elements of the medium-term fiscal policy, ie the commitment to gradual fiscal consolidation, maintenance of macroeconomic stability and acceleration of economic growth.