Skopje, 29 September 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski addressed Friday the 9th Annual Research Conference hosted by the National Bank in cooperation with the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee.

"Uncertainty steps up the mass emigration of young people not only from our country, but the entire Western Balkans region. Thus, we are losing invaluable human and social capital on which the long-term economic growth and development of our countries and the entire region depends. Reforms are necessary in vital segments key to economic development, including investments, labor productivity, dimensioning of education according to the demands on the labor market and creation of quality jobs," said Pendarovski. 

According to Pendarovski, this can best be achieved through enhanced reforms and accelerated integration in the European Union.

"Greater trade and financial integration of the region in the European market, in the past decades, was one of the vital foundations of economic growth. In the Western Balkan region, the Macedonian economy has the highest level of trade integration with the EU. But for Macedonian citizens to feel the benefits of the Union, in addition to trade, political integration is also necessary - which means acceptance of European standards and criteria. Therefore, more than ever before, we and the countries in the region need to further strengthen, not reduce, ties with developed economies," Pendarovski pointed out. 

Being a small, open and import-dependent economy, he added, the country disproportionately feels the effects of global shocks. The effects of the health, energy, economic, social and security crises converged into a poly-crisis that raised the prices of energy and food products, slowed down economic growth, accelerated inflation, increased the cost of living and narrowed the space to support the economy.

"That is why it is important we have a model to cushion market shocks in a constantly changing economic landscape," the President stressed. 

He also commented on monetary policy. Amid an unstable external environment and growing price pressure, especially due to the war in Ukraine, the National Bank, he noted, following the example of the European Central Bank, began to adjust its monetary policy.

"It is a fact that the sound monetary policy contributed to preserving the country's macroeconomic stability and partially curb the growing inflation. But that does not mean that all challenges have been overcome. Geopolitical and geoeconomic risks indisputably intensify the long-term negative effects on demography," said the President. 

National Bank Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska and Executive Director of the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, Marc Uzan, also addressed the conference.

Photo: MIA