Skopje, 27 June 2024 (MIA) - The Ministry of Finance is preparing a revision of the 2024 budget. With it, funds will be allocated for wages and pensions while non-priority and unproductive costs will be cut. The challenge is great, around 90% of the planned deficit has been spent, but we will deal with the situation, Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska told an online podcast.

“The situation is very bad. The challenge is great. I am not saying we won’t deal with it. The directions I gave are that wages and pensions must be a priority now. At the same time, priorities should be given to everything that has been accepted through laws and must be paid, and then we can move to redistribute the remaining funds for other purposes,” Dimitrieska-Kochoska said.

According to the Minister, with the budget rebalance, funds will be secured for the planned increase of pensions by Mden 2.500 with the September pension.

“The Pension and Disability Insurance Fund is lacking Mden 2.5 billion for pensions. SDSM and DUI envisaged Mden 2.5 billion less for pensions, which means they would have to be covered. This is EUR 40 million. An additional EUR 40 million is necessary to realize the increase of Mden 2.500. I have no dilemmas that we will find these funds,” the Minister said, adding that they won’t be secured from the announced EUR 1 billion loan. The Finance Minister stressed that pensioners will receive an additional increase of Mden 2.500 by June 2025, with which, she said, the promise for a linear increase of pensions by Mden 5.000 will be fulfilled.

Regarding the EUR 1 billion loan, the Minister said it would come from an EU member state and the funds would be used for capital projects.

“What I can say now and what we’ve repeated several times is that the billion will be loaned from an EU member state. The funds will be exclusively intended for projects and won’t be withdrawn immediately. They will act as a safety buffer at this moment so that we have security since we inherited a very bad situation. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be used. On the contrary, the initial EUR 250 million will arrive in the shortest possible timeframe, and they will be intended for the private sector, i.e., the Development Bank will offer them through the commercial banks, under exceptionally favorable conditions with interest rates below 3 percent,” Finance Minister Dimitrieska-Kochoska said. 

Photo: Ministry of Finance