Skopje, 11 November 2023 (MIA) - The European Commission's latest progress report on North Macedonia notes that the country is in between a moderate and a good level of preparation in the area of economic and monetary policy and some progress was made. On economic policy, the information provided in the fiscal strategy has been enhanced , but alignment with the EU fiscal framework is only partial and shortcomings on the monitoring of the fiscal risks persist. 

According to the report, in the coming year, North Macedonia should in particular adopt implementing legislation to the Organic Budget Law with a view to fully applying fiscal rules, a strengthened medium-term budgetary framework and a prudent management of fiscal risks, take the necessary legislative and organisational steps to enable the Fiscal Council to take up operations and assess the 2024 budget and the new fiscal strategy, and exclude the central bank from the scope of the Law on administrative servants, the Law on public sector employees and the Law on the payroll system. 

"There is a need to maintain the central bank’s independence in its key statutory tasks, including in staffing issues, in line with the Law. In that vein, the central bank needs to be excluded from the scope of laws which may affect its independence, including the law on administrative servants, the law on public sector employees as well as the newly proposed public sector payroll law. The central bank should be able to conduct internal organisations and employment plans without having to seek the approval of the government," reads the report. 

It adds that the provisions of the new Organic Budget Law (OBL) should be swiftly implemented in full, and as envisaged by the OBL, there is a need to develop a comprehensive registry of state-owned enterprises and a methodology to assess related risks. 

In addition, implementation of the 2023-2025 Economic Reform Programme's structural reforms measures needs to improve, as it has been affected by the limited capacity of public institutions and a focus on short-term measures to offset the energy crisis. 

Photo: MIA archive