Skopje, 7 May 2025 (MIA) - The government's plan to increase per capita income to $10,000 will depend on the growth rate, and to increase revenues, efforts should focus on improving education, competitive environment, and better energy efficiency, said Ivailo Izvorski, World Bank Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia.

“It depends on the growth rate, if it is very high, let’s say some 10 percent, then GDP will double in seven years, meaning the current 8,000-9,000 euros could reach 17,000 and 10,000 could be reached in a very short time, but it all depends of the growth rate, said Izvorski responding to a reporter’s question ahead of a presentation of a World Bank report in Skopje.

Asked how many years it would take for the Macedonian citizens to reach EU’s average in revenues per capita, he said it depends on the rate of productivity growth.

“If that growth rate is equal to what it was in the early 2000s, it could be much faster. For example, if we take 36,000 per capita in Western Europe and the European Union and 8,000 to 9,000 GDP per capita here, it would take an increase of up to four times to reach the same level. If we have a faster growth rate, then 30 to 40 years, and if we have a slower growth rate like in the past five to six years, then it could be 60 to 70 years,” Izvorski stated.

According to him, the country with average revenues of about 8,000-9,000 euros per capita has to accomplish several things in order to gain a status of a country with high revenues, with the first one being improving the quality of education.

“As the revenue level rises, people with better skills, more innovation, entrepreneurship are needed, meaning that education with better quality is an imperative in all countries in Europe and Central Asia. Analysing education, people in Europe and Central Asia spend three-four years less in education than in Eastern Asia and three years less than in the Western world. This means that taxpayers pay for education since being 13, but they get three-four years less,” said Izvorski.

The second thing, according to the World Bank economist, is competitive environment, which is necessary to develop businesses. In these countries, including the Western Balkans, he said, competitiveness is not very good. “As a result, when new companies enter the market and start a business, they cannot grow fast compared to let’s say, the US or Germany.”

The third thing noted in the World Bank report is improving energy efficiency.

“The countries in this region use much less energy per capita than in Western Europe. However, despite using much less energy per capita, we use much more energy per unit of GDP. You see what a contradiction that is, even though we use less energy per capita, we use three times more energy per unit of GDP than in the countries of Western Europe and the European Union. And if we can overcome this and achieve greater energy efficiency, it will lead to greater profitability for the businesses that operate, lower costs for citizens and fewer subsidies because many countries give subsidies to energy producers,” said Izvorski.

Announcing a new investment this past weekend, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reiterated that one of the government’s primary goals is nominal GDP to be over 20 billion dollars, i.e. 10,500 dollars per capita, and to lower public debt below 50 or 40 percent.

“Last year, we reported a historic record when it comes to foreign investments – one billion and 255 million euros. It was over 400 million euros in the last quarter alone. We’re waiting for first quarter data, but I hope it will be as successful,” he stated.

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