Tag: budget
Macedonia Economy 04.11.20 | 09:18

Parliament adopts amendments to 2020 budget set to explode the deficit

The Macedonian Parliament adopted the amendments to the 2020 budget that will blow the deficit to nearly a billion EUR and push the debt to nearly 60 percent of GDP. The amendments provide 65 million EUR to boost salaries of employees in companies that are struggling with the coronavirus crisis, and...

Economy 02.11.20 | 17:42

Sajkoski: This is the largest budget in the history of Macedonia, and no one knows where 4 billion will go

MP Gjorgjija Sajkoski from VMRO-DPMNE during the debate on the second budget review at the parliamentary session reminded of the promise of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev that “this budget will be the most developed, that the central place will be caring for citizens,” and pointed out that this...

Macedonia Economy 30.10.20 | 19:32

Unrealistic budget projections will push debt to over 70 percent, Nikoloski expects

The amendments to the 2020 budget are completely misplaced, said VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski during the Parliament debate on the proposal that will put Macedonia nearly a billion EUR deeper into debt. Instead of increasing spending on public healthcare, what every other country did,...

Macedonia Economy 05.10.20 | 14:43

Budget amendments will leave the 2020 deficit just below billion EUR

The Government adopted the proposed changes to the 2020 budget, which is being amended for a second time, with the deficit projected to spike to nearly a billion EUR. It now provides that the GDP contraction will amount to 4.4 percent and the inflation rate will be at 1 percent, said Finance Minister...

Macedonia 20.07.20 | 20:33

Investigation into whether politically linked NGO groups received coronavirus grants

The Anti-Corruption Commission (DKSK) said that it is investigating the recent distribution of over half a million EUR to non-governmental groups that took place shortly before the elections. According to DSKS, there are reports that some of the recipients were for-profit groups or are linked to the...

Macedonia 19.06.20 | 22:04

Government cuts EUR 4 million for political parties

The Government adopted Friday a decree on the financing of political parties in 2020, according to which EUR 4 million projected for this purpose will remain in the Budget. Instead of 0.15 percent from the Budget, political parties will get only 0.04 percent, i.e. instead of receiving MKD 320 million...

Economy 17.06.20 | 14:23

With public sector cuts off the table, Finance Minister Angelovska asks the citizens for donations

The Constitutional Court shielded top public sector office holders from the order that they give up most of their salaries for several months as a way of reducing the budget deficit caused by the coronavrus. The Government issued a decree that 2.000 best paid “public servants” are reduced...

Economy 26.05.20 | 23:42

The exceptionally bad state of the budget led to a tense meeting between Zaev and Finance Minister Angelovska, Infomax reports

The Infomax news site reports that a tense meeting between Zoran Zaev and Finance Minister Nina Angelovska took place yesterday. The topic was the exploding deficit in the budget, and the situation was reportedly so tense and Zaev’s approach was so hard that Angelovska couldn’t hold back...

Economy 29.04.20 | 20:09

Slaveski: The Government was spending like there’s no tomorrow

The Government was spending like there was no tomorrow, adding 120 million EUR in new debt in the election year, said VMRO-DPMNE official and former Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski during his press conference today. He pointed to the extraordinarily high levels of spending in the first three months...

Economy 29.04.20 | 13:43

Where did 120 million euros from the budget go: SDSM robbed the state treasury

Where did 120 million euros from the country’s budget deficit go and what were they spent on? This question is of interest to the citizens, who have not seen any benefit from that money. On the contrary, they are getting poorer and barely making ends meet, while SDSM officials are living their...

Economy 28.04.20 | 15:58

Mickoski: Macedonia was heading for a budget crisis even without the pandemic

Even without the epidemic, Macedonia was heading for an economic crisis, with the budget deficit for the first quarter of 2020 twice larger than what it normally is, said opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski. Mickoski pointed to the fact that deficit spending for Q1 is at 120 million EUR, while in a...

Economy 27.04.20 | 21:08

Dimitrieska: The Government is overspending on public sector hiring in the midst of the crisis

Deputy Finance Minister Gordana Dimtirieska – Kocoska warned that budget revenue has dropped by 21 percent in the first quarter of the year and that the deficit is on trac tto be 43 percent greater than projected. Some could argue that it is logical to have a revenue drop at a time like this. But...

Economy 12.04.20 | 15:00

Unemployment rate in Macedonia could rise over 20 percent, Slaveski warns

Economy professor and VMRO-DPMNE official Trajko Slaveski warned that Macedonia could see the unemployment rate go back above 20 percent. Slaveski said that the SDSM led Government is badly late in preparing a rescue package for the economy in response to the coronavirus crisis. With every day that goes...

Macedonia 03.04.20 | 21:36

Despite acknowledging we are in an unprecedented crisis, SDSM wants to continue landing its activists in public sector jobs

A set of measures were adopted by the SDSM led Government and were announced as a cost cutting measure in times of unprecedented economic contraction and a major projected budget shortfall. But on closer inspection, the measures leave the door to continue the practice of hiring party activists in the...

Economy 01.04.20 | 14:36

Finance Minister Angelovska sees a budget shortfall of between 700 million and 1.3 billion EUR

Finance Minister Nina Angelovska outlined three scenarios for the coming economic crisis. Even under the most favorable scenario the budget would see a projected revenue shortfall of 20 percent, or a deficit of 700 million EUR, Angelovska said. This is caused by the quarantine and curfew ordered because...

Macedonia 30.03.20 | 17:33

When it comes to cutting party funding, SDSM won’t take “yes” for an answer, keeps up a smear campaign against VMRO-DPMNE

VMRO-DPMNE gave up on the public funding that is shared between political parties, and rejects the on-going public relations campaign led by the ruling SDSM party, said party spokesman Naum Stoilkovski. The bigger parties are entitled to share more than four million EUR between themselves. For days,...

Economy 29.03.20 | 10:55

Former Finance Minister Minoski says reducing public sector wages will harm the economy

Former Finance Minister Kiril Minoski came out against Zoran Zaev’s proposal to reduce the public administration wages down to the minimum wage for two months as a way to plug the growing hole in the budget. Minoski said that this would crash public spending. If we look into what’s proposed...

Economy 28.03.20 | 10:26

Zaev expects a two billion EUR hole in the budget

SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev acknowledged that the shortfall in the budget could amount to 60 percent – over two billion EUR. The coronavirus epidemic led to a dramatic drop in economic activity and in order to reduce the expected deficit, Zaev proposed putting the entire public administration...

Macedonia 27.03.20 | 21:22

Government informs Council of Europe it is limiting human rights; tries new ways to plug the hole in the budget

The Macedonian Government decided to inform the Council of Europe that it is suspending articles from the European convention of human rights, given the coronavirus epidemic. The Government currently has emergency powers and they are used to curb freedoms, including the right to free movement, assembly,...

World 02.02.20 | 13:23

V4: Positions on EU budget far apart, Orban says

The member states’ views regarding the European Union’s new multi-annual budget are still far apart, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters after the head-of-government-level meeting of the Friends of Cohesion group in the Portugese city of Beja on Saturday, the V4 news agency...

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