Macedonia Not Facing Bankruptcy, Minister Says

“The budget is in a good condition. Taking into consideration all circumstances and the economic crisis, we managed to successfully pay off pensions and social aid on time,” said Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski at a press conference on Tuesday.

Following a delay in pensions payments that threatened to leave thousands of pensioners without money for the Orthodox Christmas on 7 January, media began to speculate that the state has difficulty collecting revenue.

“We have to disappoint people, who spread the rumour that Macedonia is facing bankruptcy,” said Stavreski, adding that the country ended last year with the second lowest budget deficit in Europe of 2.77 per cent of GDP.

The global economic downturn has helped push Macedonia's growth into negative territory, with the government expecting final figures to show a 1.5 per cent decline in 2009. Expectations are for a 2 per cent increase ths year and a return to the previous rate of growth of over five per cent in 2011.

Stavrevski expressed hope that the state will be able to pay wages to administration workers by 10 January.

However, on Tuesday the country continued the controversial practice of issuing state bonds that have frequently been used to fill in budget gaps over the last year. Many have criticised this moves as draining money away from the real economy and harming the state budget in the longer run due to the high interest rates that it has to pay back.