The protracted political crisis in Macedonia has had a higher than excepted toll on the country's economy, local media reported Sunday citing Macedonian National Bank Governor Dimitar Bogov.
Bogov declared that it would be difficult for Macedonia to achieve any growth for this year while he considered the Banks April forecast of a 2.5 percent growth as too optimistic.
"Having in mind the outcome of the first half of the year which was -0.9, I would be glad if we end this year with positive economic growth," media here cited Bogov as saying.
Macedonia's economic growth for 2016 stood at 2.4 percent, while in the second quarter of this year it saw a 1.9 percent drop.
However, Bogov voiced hope that if Macedonia restores full political stability and carries out important economic policies, it can expect that growth to gradually return to the trend that it had before entering into the political crisis in 2015.
