18:00/December 17/2021 Skopje – Defense Minister Radmila Shekerinska said Friday she won’t be part of the new government. Shekerinska mentioned that eight months ago she stepped down from the post of SDSM Vice – President because she disagreed with some of the policies which, according to her, had contributed to the defeat at the local elections, and she doesn’t expect things to change. Skopje – Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi reiterated on Friday his position that there will be no significant increase in the price of electricity. The final decision, he added, will be made by the Energy Regulatory Commission, but the government’s expectations are that it won’t be a significant increase. Skopje – According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), growth in North Macedonia is forecast to pick up from 4 percent in 2021 to 4.2 percent in 2022, driven mainly by strong domestic demand. IMF staff expect inflation to reach 3.9 percent on average in 2022, before stabilizing at around 2 percent in 2023 and thereafter, while the fiscal deficit to narrow to 4.3 percent of GDP in 2022, from 5.9 percent in 2021. Skopje – During a press conference on Friday, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski called for the formation of an interim government in February or March and holding early parliamentary elections in May or June. Skopje – North Macedonia registered 327 new COVID-19 infections after 2,740 tests were conducted in labs across the country in the past 24 hours. In the same period, 12 deaths and 325 recoveries were reported, the Ministry of Health said on Friday. Washington – In 2020, North Macedonia was a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.  With no terrorist attacks in 2020 and no reported departures to join ISIS, the main counterterrorism issue North Macedonia faced consisted of returned FTFs, notes the annual country terrorism report on North Macedonia, written by the US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. Sofia – After meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Friday, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said Sofia needs to upgrade its position towards Skopje with working groups, which should not be a political act but real work. Hanover – Germany is facing a huge fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic driven by the Omicron variant that will put its health services under severe pressure, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Friday.