The latest reports from the World Bank and the European Commission provide significant insights into economic trends in Macedonia, the results achieved, and the outlook for the Macedonian economy in the period ahead. I will begin with the World Bank’s latest regular economic report for the Western Balkans, released Tuesday, October 27, which includes an upward revision of the economic growth forecast for Macedonia for 2026. According to this report, the World Bank projects that the Macedonian economy will achieve growth of 3.2 percent this year, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to previous projection, said Government Spokesperson Marija Miteva.
“It is particularly significant that this assessment comes during a period marked by serious global economic challenges, geopolitical uncertainty, price and energy-related pressures, as well as a slowdown in economic activity among some of our key trading partners. For Macedonia, this serves as an important evaluation of economic trends to date, while also providing a clear direction for policies to be pursued in the coming period.
The World Bank’s assessments are complemented by data from the European Commission’s latest economic report, published on October 20, which indicates that Macedonia achieved economic growth of 4.3 percent in Q2, the highest growth rate among the six Western Balkan economies. For comparison, the average economic growth in the region stands at 3.6 percent.
Furthermore, the Macedonian economy has seen acceleration in this growth, rising from 3.1 percent in Q1 to 4.3 percent in the second quarter of this year. These figures take on added significance when one examines the structure of this growth,” noted Miteva.