Skopje, 21 February 2023 (MIA) - The Ministry of Finance is prepared and can issue the eurobond immediately after the Parliament completes the procedure of electing a new justice minister. I expect the next auction to be successful as well. This process is supported by a consortium of banks that have been successfully issuing eurobonds over the past 20 years, and investors have shown interest to take part at the auction scheduled for March 9, says Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi.

Minister Besimi told TV24 the repeated auction does not incur additional costs since this is part of the agreement that the state has with the consortium of banks.

"As soon as the justice minister is elected, we are prepared to go out on the market on the next day. The coming transaction will be successful. Investors are showing interest to take part. We are issuing a product that is well-known to them and we are not late in payments," says Besimi.

The FinMin adds the interest rate would determine the eurobond amount.

"The ceiling is EUR 800 million and we have decided to issue the eurobond in order to settle our liabilities abroad, namely the EUR 450 million eurobond that matures in June and the interest rates of about EUR 30 million, along with other loans. The idea was for the eurobond to be used for settlement of our liabilities coming from abroad. If the interest exceeds seven percent, we could opt for a EUR 500 million eurobond and see if interest rates drop later in the year, since inflation is expected to ease off and growth to increase in the second half of 2023. However, there are many uncertainties and no one knows what will happen in Ukraine," says Besimi.