Two years have passed since the management of public finances, two years in difficult economic conditions, global uncertainties and huge fiscal challenges. But also two years in which we made a conscious choice – a choice for discipline, for fiscal responsibility and for long-term solutions instead of short-term populism. In these two years, the macroeconomic results are more than clear: the Macedonian economy in this period has recorded stable recovery and continuous growth. If we look back, we will see that in the period from 2017 to 2023 the average economic growth was around 1.8 percent, and today we have a significantly higher dynamics, 3 percent growth in 2024, 3.5 percent in 2025 and in 2026 a stable positive trajectory of economic growth, Macedonian Minister of Finance Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska told reporters on Thursday.
As Dimitrieska-Kochoska pointed out at a press conference in the Government, reporting on the work done, inflation, which in 2022 reached 14.2 percent and seriously affected the living standards of citizens, and today, despite the continued global uncertainty and the consequences of one of the largest energy and economic crises in recent decades, amounted to 4.8 percent in May. Projections for this year remain within the expected stability.
“This means that we have managed to cushion global price shocks and once again ensure a predictable economic environment. This is particularly important because stable inflation creates conditions for real wage growth. In these two years, wage growth has continued with strong dynamics. Nominal wage growth in 2024 was 12.6 percent, in 2025 9.6 percent, and this year we expect growth of over 8 percent. But even more important is that after a long period, citizens are once again experiencing real income growth. After a drop in real wages in 2022 by 2.9 percent, in 2024 they grew by 8.8 percent, and in 2025 by an additional 5.3 percent. This is a key signal that real purchasing power is improving. We are aware of the problems of citizens, we live them together and we are working hard to solve them,” the finance minister noted.
During this period, Dimitrieska-Kochoska informed, EUR 4.4 billion of public debt have been serviced, and another EUR 983 million are due by the end of the year.
