Skopje, 11 January 2024 (MIA) — North Macedonia's economic performance has improved as shown by budget parameters and 2024 will be even better, with salaries, pensions and the number of jobs rising even more, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski told a press conference Thursday adding that he also expected the country's jobless rate would fall to single digits in 2025.

According to PM Kovachevski, the national budget had a lower deficit than investments and the GDP had grown significantly compared to six years ago. He added that the unemployment rate, which had been 25 percent in 2016, dropped to 12.8 percent, and the average salary was EUR 650. Also, he pointed out, the minimum wage increased from Mden 8,000 to Mden 23,000.

"If you look at the level of foreign direct investments, it was cumulatively 600 million euros in 2016, and now it is two billion," he said, adding that the Free Industrial Zones currently employed more than 17,000 workers.

"Even in the public sector, salaries have increased significantly," he continued.

Healthcare workers' paychecks increased from 25 to 50 percent, he said, and overtime pay for doctors was now up to 166 percent higher. Education workers' salaries, from Mden 18,000 in 2016, he said, now reached Mden 36-40,000.

According to Kovachevski, inflation was slowing down as well.

"We have already reduced the deficit to the level of 3.5-3.6 percent and inflation to 3.4 percent, which is why I said 2023 would be better than 2022. And so it was. So I say 2024 will be better than 2023 because all budget parameters point to this," the prime minister said.

"The growth of wages will continue, the growth of pensions will continue, the growth of the number of employees will continue. I expect 2025 to be the first year that our country has a single-digit unemployment rate," he added.

"As a NATO member country, a country negotiating with the EU, North Macedonia will keep its place as a significant investment destination for foreign investors," Kovachevski said, adding that the companies were not investing in the country to get "cheap labor" but were paying their employees well.

"The latest investment of Australian investors employs young people who are 24-25 years old, paying them salaries over 60,000 denars," he said.

"This is the country's future. So, if you ask me, I am optimistic about North Macedonia's economic and social development in the next five years, in the next ten years," Kovachevski added. mr/