Skopje, 6 August 2023 (MIA) - Four new investments worth over €150 million are in the final negotiation phase, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in an interview with MIA.

“The important things is to create new jobs in the private sector, which should be the engine of economic growth in the country. That is why we create conditions for companies to develop and pay higher wages than the average. In this regard, I want to mention that new investments and new employments are a new stimulus to the economy,” Kovachevski said.

He reminded that agreements reached for investments of over €280 million, including the largest greenfield investment since the independence of the state of €205 million with the Taiwanese electronics giant Yageo are the key achievements in the Technological Industrial Development Zones. These investments should bring over 4,600 jobs as well as over €90 million in the budget only on the basis of contributions in the next ten years, he added.

“Without new investments, there is no economic growth. Both domestic and foreign investments are equally important for us. Following the record numbers of the highest financial support for the largest number of companies over the past five years, which we provided last year and this year, we continue to mark record interest in the set of measures that we provide through the Law on Financial Support of Investments,” Kovachevski said.

He noted that a record number of applications were received this year, a total of 427 applications for support through this Law, and 294 new contracts were concluded with planned investments of €365.9 million, which, as he said, is three times more than planned in 2022.

“The largest number of companies are from the wood industry, furniture, printing presses and paper products, then the metal-machinery industry, sheet metal, aluminium, glass products, as well as the food-processing industry, but there are also from the textile, leather-processing industry, followed by the information and communication industry, the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The record number of applications is the result of the greater confidence of companies that see a partner in the government,” PM Kovachevski said in an interview with MIA.

Photo: MIA archive