Skopje, 10 March 2023 (MIA) — We ended last year with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 57%, with reduced borrowing than in previous years and most of these funds were used for capital investments, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in a TV appearance Friday evening.

“Speaking about borrowing in order to make capital investments in the country, both last year and this year, we have followed the main rule of finance, which is that investments should be greater than the deficit, and borrowing should be used for capital investments,” Prime Minister Kovachevski said. 

“We ended last year with the historically highest level of capital investments: 465 million euros. We launched the highway to Kochani, which is a complete final solution from Shtip to Kochani. In the past five years, 78 preschool centers were built in the country. Improvements were made to a large number of agricultural facilities. We put the Rankovce irrigation system into use. The other day we signed the contract for the start of Corridor 8 and Corridor 10d construction,” he said.

Kovachevski said the highway construction was the country’s largest infrastructure project yet. The EUR 1.3 billion project will be financed from the national budget over the next five years.

The new highway will connect Tetovo to the Albanian border, he said, and “finally a highway [will be built] between Prilep and Bitola, 40 kilometers long.” 

“The highway to Bulgaria is already under construction,” he added. “It is a completely new road. A third lane is being put in ahead of Deve Bair, which means that finally after the completion of Corridor 8 together with the completed Corridor 10 we will be able to reach not only the port of Thessaloniki but also the port of Durres.” 

Kovachevski stressed that better infrastucture connections would also boost the economy. mr/