Skopje, 27 June 2024 (MIA) - With the correction that needs to be done in September, pensioners will receive the first linear increase of Mden 2.500, while the next Mden 2.500 linear increase will occur in March 2025, Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska said Thursday, adding that the measure will be confirmed at the Government’s first session on Friday.

“A pensioner who receives a pension of Mden 15.000 with the September increase will receive a pension of Mden 17.500, and Mden 20.000 with the increase in March of next year. The increased pension will be paid out each month, and the first usual alignment of pensions with the living costs will be done in September 2025,” Dimitrieska-Kochoska told a TV Sitel interview.

The Finance Minister stressed that the budget revision will provide an additional EUR 80 million in order to fund for the increased pensions. Of them, she said, around EUR 40 million are for a linear increase, while the remaining EUR 40 million weren’t envisaged by the previous Government in the 2024 budget for an uninterrupted provision of pensions. The municipalities, pensions and wages will be at the focus of the budget revision, while everything else will be cut, she said.

“We will be able to secure these funds because we will cut down on unproductive expenses. Unfortunately, for this year it is impossible to cut because the funds have been largely paid out, and we have a huge budget deficit. The funds have already been spent and there’s nowhere to cut, but everything that’s unproductive and has remained will be cut,” Dimitrieska-Kochoska said.

The Finance Minister stressed that currently the wages of officials won’t be cut, and that the Ministry won’t continue to issue popular bonds until “the trust in the system and the state is restored”.

Regarding the EUR 1 billion loan announced by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, the Finance Minister said the loan would be received with an interest rate lower than 3 percent, as compared to the 5.6 percent interest rate of issuing a Eurobond.

“We won’t take out that EUR 1 billion immediately, and it won’t enter the economy immediately. We promised to provide a portion of it to the private sector through the Development Bank, which is EUR 250 million, while EUR 750 million will remain to support the liquidity of the budget related to capital projects,” Dimitrieska-Kochoska said.

In terms of the minimum wage and its possible increase, as requested by the trade unions, the Minister said it should be tied to the productivity and there is no economic logic for the drop of productivity.

“We need to see why our productivity is dropping. I suspect that the informal economy plays a large part in that. If we succeed, and I believe that we will, favorable conditions will be created to increase both the minimum wage and the real wages,” Dimitrieska-Kochoska said and added that the issue will be discussed with the unions which are asking for the minimum wage to be raised to EUR 450 within the first 100 days of Government. 

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