Macedonia to Shave 5 Per Cent Off Budget

Macedonian Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski

Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski said the projected gross savings from the cuts will amount to some €120 million, almost 5 per cent of the total budget. He did not say where the biggest cuts will be made.

“The aim is to improve the liquidity of the budget and keep down taxes,” Stavreski said, adding that his team will work out the details within the next two weeks.

The cold winter that hit the Balkans, as well as the ongoing financial crisis in the EU, decreased Macedonia's economic activity in the first three month of the year. In that period the total budget income was 9 per cent less than government projections.

The centre-right government of Nikola Gruevski last autumn said it was confident it would be able to balance the books, managing this year's largest ever budget.

Macedonia’s budget for 2012 is €2.77 billion, with revenues estimated at about €2.58 billion.

The country plans to keep the budget deficit at a planned 2.5 per cent. However, economic growth will have to revised down from a planned 4.5 per cent, Stavreski said.