Macedonia’s National Bank Council reviewed the latest economic indicators during its regular session and assessed that the country’s macroeconomic situation remains stable for now and in line with expectations.
The movements in the main macroeconomic indicators are currently within the expectations according to the latest projections, but with highlighted risks due to the uncertainty of the intensity and duration of the conflict in the Middle East.
Since the beginning of 2026, the annual inflation rate has been following a downward path and in February it decreased to 2.9%, in line with expectations, with a stronger slowdown in prices in the basic component.
However, due to military developments and the interruption in the supply of energy from the Gulf countries, expectations for some of the import prices, primarily for oil prices, have been revised more significantly upwards compared to the October projections, which represents an upward risk for inflation in the coming period.
So far, the domestic economy has proven to be largely resilient to the uncertain and volatile external environment and in 2025 recorded accelerated economic growth, due to domestic investment activity, but also to solid exports, and the performance is in line with projections.
The available high-frequency data for the first quarter of 2026 are not yet sufficient for more precise observations, taking into account only the January data for industry and trade turnover, which for now record weaker performances on an annual basis.
Foreign exchange reserves have been growing since the beginning of the year and are maintained at the appropriate level. In terms of the monetary segment, the growth of deposits and loans, as of February, is solid and moderately above expectations for the first quarter of the year.
The Council assessed that the macroeconomic situation is currently stable and in line with the latest projections, but the National Bank will continue to closely monitor the external environment and potential risks from global and regional events, in order to maintain macroeconomic stability.
