Former Additional Deputy Minister of Finance in the technical government Gordana Dimitrieska Kochoska believes that the government borrowed in a significantly shorter period with the same or higher interest rate than Serbia and Croatia. According to her, this shows that investors perceived Macedonia as a riskier country, countering Minister of Finance Fatmir Besimi who boasted that the interest rate on the Macedonian Eurobond is lower than many countries that are part of the European Union or have a better credit rating than the country, such as Croatia, Turkey and Serbia.
Dimitrieska Kochoska thinks that the comparison with Turkey is inappropriate because she borrowed in dollars, while for Croatia she says that she borrowed for 20 years “at almost the same interest rate as we for 7 years, and for 12 years, Croatia borrowed after lower interest rate”.
“Serbia borrowed at the same interest rate as us (1.65%) for a period of 12 years (and we for 7 years). The demand for the Eurobonds of the two countries was almost 6 times higher than the offered amount, and for our Eurobond it was 2.3 times,” says Dimitrieska Kochoska.