Skopje, 6 April 2024 (MIA) - North Macedonia is leading credible and consistent macroeconomic policies that underpin the longstanding exchange rate peg to the euro, more favourable governance indicators than peer medians, and an EU accession process that acts as a reform anchor over the medium term, are the factors with which North Macedonia maintained its BB+ credit rating with stable outlook in the latest report by the Fitch Ratings agency, the Ministry of Finance said in a press release Saturday.

According to the report, the country’s growth is expected to strengthen in 2024, the budget deficit to narrow, and inflation to drop.

According to Fitch, growth is expected to strengthen in 2024 to 2.9 percent, with private consumption as the main contributor to growth owing to an improvement in real wages. Work on the 8/10d highway project will drive investment spending, and continued net FDI inflows will lift export capacity. The report forecasts growth to pick up further in 2025 to 3.6 percent as the prospects for key trading partners improve. Financing flows from the EU's new Western Balkans growth plan (potentially worth 6 percent of GDP by end-2027) are an upside, the report states.

Fitch expects a narrowing of the general government deficit to 3.8 percent in 2024, owing to budgeted spending adjustments, recent revenue-raising measures and a pickup in economic activity.  
According to the report, inflation is normalizing and it dropped to 3 percent in February. It is expected to average 3.7 percent in 2024, and 2.8 percent in 2025.

“The credit rating of a country highlights the degree of risk when investing in it and represents one of the key indicators that potential investors take into account when making decisions. North Macedonia has maintained a BB+ rating with a stable outlook since 2019,” the Finance Ministry said in the press release. 

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