Skopje, 8 October 2024 (MIA) – Hungarian loan agreement amounting to €500 million is set to signed Tuesday in Budapest. A portion of the loan is intended for the business sector, with the rest allocated for the implementation of municipal projects.

Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska announced last week that she would travel to Budapest on October 8 to sign the agreement. 

The government claims that the loan terms are favorable, with an interest rate of 3.25%, a three-year grace period, and 12 years repayment period.

The law for the Hungarian loan, negotiated by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during the NATO Summit in Washington, was passed by the Parliament on Sept. 17.

Half of the funds will be used by the business sector, whereas the other half will be spent for local infrastructure projects. A total of 357 project applications from 80 municipalities have arrived at the public call released by the Ministry of Local Self-Government.

We cannot give a Chinese loan and Chinese funds because we have an agreement with China that all funds coming from there are allocated in specific projects for Hungary's development, said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Sep. 27 during his visit to Ohrid.

"We cannot give you Chinese funds, but we can give you European funds, and we will," said PM Orbán when quizzed by reporters if the funds of the EUR 500 million Hungarian loan originate from China or Hungary.

The costs that the country needs to pay for legal services fees to obtain the half-billion-euro loan from Hungary are normal procedure and are 10 times less than previous loan-related expenses, Prime Minister Hristijan Miskoski said following reports that an independent firm chosen by the Hungarian Export-Import Bank will be compensated for legal services.

"The costs amount to 70,000 euros, which is a normal procedure and ten times less than what we have paid previously for loans. Out of the half-billion euros that will be borrowed, these 70,000 euros represent just over 0.1 percent," Mickoski said.

The draft law, which was adopted through a shortened procedure, states that the Republic of North Macedonia will pay a fee for legal services to an independent firm selected by the Hungarian Export-Import Bank, and that the fee must be paid before the withdrawal of the tranche.

The opposition SDSM party described the Hungarian loan as a major corruption scandal that will be repaid by future generations and requested that the law be passed through a regular procedure. Parliamentary Finances and Budget Committee head, Sanja Lukarevska, refused to schedule a session with this item on the agenda, prompting the Speaker of Parliament, Afrim Gashi, to call the session, with MP Bojan Stojanovski presiding.

Photo: MIA archive