SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev again opened the prospect of cutting the salaries of the public sector employees in order to reduce the growing 2020 deficit.

Zaev’s initial plan that the public sector is all placed on the minimum wage of 230 EUR for the duration of two months was defeated by his own allies in the Government, who feared that it will be electoral suicide. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party also condemned the proposal as it would reduce the economy even further as consumption tanks.

But Zaev and the Finance Minister Nina Angelovska have not given up on the idea. During a Telma TV interview yesterday, Zaev insisted that public sector employees have made great savings because of the coronavirus lockdown and can absorb a pay cut.

One public sector employee earns 25.000 denars. On average they have to pay 6.000 denars in credits a month and the other 19.000 denars are spent. But in April spending dropped to 10.000 denars of those 25.000 because we stay at home, we spend for food and bills but the consumption is down to 10.000 denars and so they have saved 15.000 denars, Zaev calculated.

The deficit is expected to explode to between 700 million and 1,3 billion EUR, out of a budget that was planned at a little under 4 billion EUR. But even a symbolic attempt to reduce the salaries of just the best paid public sector officials was defeated after the Constitutional Court judges refused to allow that their salaries are cut and struck down the Government decree.