The economic situation in Macedonia is bad, there is almost no growth or it is very low. The number of employees in the industry is dropping, there are also problems in the textile industry and we are losing an entire business. We currently have the highest inflation rate, twice as high as the Eurozone, former Minister of Finance Trajko Slaveski points out in the second part of the interview with Republika.mk.
Slaveski believes that any separation of the inflation rate from ours to that of the Eurozone exerts pressure on the exchange rate.
At first and in the short term, it reduces the competitiveness of the Macedonian economy and our goods become more expensive compared to competitors. This can have far-reaching consequences.
Slaveski has no doubt that the Government is late with the measures.
They were late with the measures in the monetary policy and the increase in treasury bills. It helps to inflate the bubble in real estate in terms of prices. Those who have the means to buy a new apartment are satisfied, but what happens to the young people who could not get an apartment and now it is even worse. Now we have an overflow of funds from savers and the poorest among those who buy a second or third apartment to “lock” money because the interest rates on deposits are too low.
The former finance minister warns that inflation could bring chaos.
“In the conditions of inflation, those routines of normal operation are lost. You as a businessman or consumer should be afraid of what awaits you in the near future. In that chaos comes something that I call the search for the right price. For instance they will set a price of 90 denars for yogurt. When they see that the expiration date is expiring, they will take the price down or put it on sale. This is called “revealing the price” and in our country, it is related to the high rate of inflation,” added Slaveski.
