Macroeconomic and political stability are key factors for foreign investors in the country, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zoran Stavreski said on the conference in London for investment in the region, which was organized by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Stavreski pointed out on continuous activities that provide persistent security and predictability for the investors in Macedonia.
- What is the most important thing for investors is political stability of the country. Macedonia is a candidate country for EU membership since 2005. In this context there is a question that is not part of the Copenhagen criteria or any economic criteria, it is the name issue that we have with our neighbor Greece. But that does not prevent us from working on the harmonization of legislation with EU law and standards of member states that provides certainty and predictability for investors, Stavreski stated.
He pointed out the importance of macroeconomic stability, for which, as he said, Macedonia has an excellent record of achieving and maintaining growth even during the crisis in Europe and the world.
- We have GDP growth of 3.3 percent in 2013 and it was similar in 2010 and 2011. All these years when there was negative growth in Europe, Macedonia had GDP growth of 3 percent which is very solid, Stavreski said.
According to him, sustainable public finances are one of the key components of macroeconomic stability.
- Government debt is 34 percent and is the fourth lowest in Europe generally due to the pre-crisis preparedness and early repayment of part of the debt. It is a result of our conservative policy on borrowing from the World Bank and EBRD which gives us the necessary support for infrastructure projects, as well as the business environment, but always with caution on debt sustainability, Stavreski said.
The advantages offered by the zones were presented by the Directorate of Technological Industrial Development Zones CEO Viktor Mizo, who has indicated that the two zones in Skopje are ranked among the 50 best.
- It is very important because our zones are similar to those in Asia, but in our case only production is allowed because we follow the EU rules, Mizo stated.
After the conference in, the government economic team leaves for Germany, where the advantages of investing will presented to the business community in Dusseldorf.
Source MIA
