Skopje, 20 November 2025 (MIA) - Capital expenditures for 2026 are realistically projected, based on prior realization and expectations for the next year. When assessing the realization of capital investments, the Government is not the only responsible party, because delays often come from contractors that face workforce shortages and other restrictions, says Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska.

"If we look at the realization of capital expenditures in previous years, you will see it was never close to the projections. You'll see that transfers to public enterprises and state-owned shareholders associations are defined as capital expenditures," Minister Dimitrieska-Kochoska told MTV.

According to her, the new methodology that excludes transfers to public enterprises and state-owned shareholders associations as capital expenditures gives a true picture of the real investments.

"These are not capital expenditures but transfers. If one compares the old and the new methodology, there is a 19-percent higher realization of capital expenditures, as of yesterday's data. If we add the transfers as capital expenditures there is over 47-percent increase of capital expenditures in 2025," says Dimitrieska-Kochoska.

The FinMin also refers to the problem of low realization of institutions' funds at their respective accounts.

"At the time when I assumed the post, institutions had Mden 14 billion (EUR 227 million) on their accounts, meaning that the Ministry of Finance has to borrow from banks in order to cover their expenditures," says Dimitrieska-Kochoska.

She adds that institutions cannot keep the funds in their accounts, because those are not their own revenues or own accounts, and "all accounts belong to the state and the citizens."

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