Skopje, 19 April 2024 (MIA) - The International Monetary Fund's spring projection over the country's inflation are similar to the autumn forecasts of the National Bank, namely that inflation will go down, on average, by about four percent in 2024 and by two percent in 2025. The trends are more favorable and if the inflation continues to drop in line with projections, whereas more significant risks fail to materialize, monetary policy could be relaxed in the second half of the year, says National Bank Governor Anita Angelovska-Bezhoska.

In an interview with Voice of America during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings, Governor Angelovska-Bezhoska says that considering the large commercial and financial openness of North Macedonia's economy, the growth prospects for the current and the coming year will largely depend on global developments, besides the domestic factors.

"According to IMF's latest projections, the global economy will continue to rise at a stable rate of 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, which is slightly better than earlier forecasts. From a longer-term perspective, these growth rates are very low, which shows that crises have left long-term consequences on the global economy. When it comes to the EU, which is our most significant economic partner, growth is expected to pick up from 0.5 percent in 2023 to 0.9 percent in 2024 and 1.7 percent in 2025, but still slower from prior projections. Regarding the Macedonian economy, the IMF has revised its 2024 projection to 2.7 percent, down from the previous forecast of 3.2 percent," says Angelovska-Bezhoska.

She says the National Bank's spring projections will be released in the course of May, including the latest available data.