The economic situation in Macedonia is bad, we have almost no growth or it is very low. The number of employees in the industry is decreasing, there are also problems in the textile industry and we are losing an entire business. We currently have the highest inflation rate, twice as high as the Eurozone, former Minister of Finance Trajko Slaveski points out in the second part of the interview with “Republika”.

He believes that any separation of the inflation rate from ours to that of the Eurozone exerts pressure on the exchange rate.

At first and in the short term, it reduces the competitiveness of the Macedonian economy and our goods become more expensive compared to competitors. This can have far-reaching consequences.

Slaveski has no doubt that the government is late with the measures.

They were late with the measures in the monetary policy and the increase in treasury bills. It helps to inflate the bubble in real estate in terms of prices. Those who have the means to buy a new apartment are satisfied, but what happens to the young people who could not get an apartment and now it is even worse. Now we have an overflow of funds from savers and the poorest among those who buy a second or third apartment to “lock” money because the interest rates on deposits are too low.

He warns that inflation can bring chaos.

In the conditions of inflation, those routines of normal operation are lost. You as a businessman or consumer should be afraid of what awaits you in the near future. In that chaos comes something that I call the search for the right price. Here, they will set a price of 90 denars for the yogurt. When they see that the deadline is passing, they will take it down or give a discount. This is called “discovering the price” and in our country, it is related to the high rate of inflation.

Slaveski explains why the prices of some basic food products in Germany are lower than in Macedonia.

Two factors come into play here. It is the growth of the price of imputations, but you will immediately say that it is growing for them as well. The explanation is that our inflation is more than twice as high as that of Germany, and over time the prices of basic products will catch up with the prices there. We are maintaining as an economy, as a standard of living in that what we produce ourselves and the prices are lower. Now with the high inflation, it is all disrupted. The price of espresso in Skopje should be a euro and a half, and in Italy when it rose from a euro to a euro and ten cents, riots started. This is a plus argument to account for inflation and monetary policy.

With Slaveski, we also recalled the government’s promise that when they come, they will hold lessons in economics.

There is no one to teach the lessons, and the lecturers have disappeared. The advocates of these theses – Tevdoski and Jovanović “disappeared” and now there is no economist in the SDSM, but all economic departments have been handed over to the coalition partner. SDSM should be held responsible for why it is amnesty from offering solutions and for what is happening on the economic level.

Slaveski agrees that more money is given for damages for unrealized projects than for construction.

Unfortunately, this is the case. We have funding from the European Bank to solve public transport in Skopje. The Kicevo-Ohrid highway has become a European phenomenon and a challenge for the government. Now we have a new deadline by 2026.

Listen to the entire conversation in the video interview conducted by Igor Caveski.