Prices for new buildings explode in Skopje: 2000 euros for one square meter
Rising building material prices, declining building permits, labor shortages and increasing demand have all pushed up house prices in the Macedonian capital Skopje. The building chamber, which announced earlier this year that the price of the residential space in the municipality of Centar could possibly reach up to 2,000 euros, says the trend will not stop by the end of the year. According to the builders, the trend towards rising apartment prices began last year when the issuing of building permits was reduced, especially in the center of …
During Zaev's reign, Macedonia lost 15 places in the Heritage Report on Economic Freedom
Due to the catastrophic economic policies of the current government under Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Macedonia fell 15 places on the list of economic freedoms within 4 years. This is the result from the "report of economic freedoms" of the Heritage Foundation. From 31st place in 2017, Macedonia now ranks 46th next to Rwanda and Colombia. In its annual report for 2021 on the ranking of countries in the world, the Heritage Foundation ranks Macedonia 46th with 68.6 points according to the level of economic freedoms and rights, which c…
Macedonia and Lesotho involved in world’s largest legal cannabis deal
Medical cannabis producer Highlands Investments from Lesotho secured the sale of 8.5 tonnes of pure cannabis flowers for the European market that will be shipped to Macedonia. The shipment is believed to be the world’s largest single legal cannabis export to date. In July, Macedonia endorsed a draft law on the control of narcotic drugs, which allows the export of dried cannabis flowers in line with EU rules. Skopje is developing a medical cannabis industry and the government is considering legalising the drug to encourage hospitality and touri…
McDonald’s returns to Macedonia?
Well-known American fast food franchise McDonald’s plans to return after eight years to Macedonia As the Macedonian media reported, the well-known American fast food franchise McDonald’s is expected to return to Macedonia. After a number of problems, its restaurants in the country were closed in 2013. The Macedonian portal Faktor was the first to report on the return of McDonald’s to Macedonia. “Even in times of the pandemic, the changes are not easing, and the Macedonian market is becoming an attractive location for new investments. After 8 y…
Lidl plans several stores in Macedonia
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Transport Minister Blagoj Bocvarski and Skopje Mayor Petre Silegov held Wednesday a meeting with the managers of the German company Lidl to discuss the new investment of the supermarket chain in Macedonia. Prime Minister Zaev stressed that the new investments are of great importance for the country, in order to increase supply, create new jobs, and improve the overall economy. He welcomed the positive practices recognizable for Lidl in terms of the job market, training its employees, and practicing in a modern way o…
Macedonia Business update 03/04/2020
Macedonia's Gross domestic product (GDP) declines FDI inflow falls 40% Macedonia places new 7-yr Eurobond Macedonia's GDP declines 4.5% in 2020 - prelim data Macedonia's economic output shrank by an estimated 4.5% year-on-year in real terms in 2020, the country's statistical office said on Tuesday, citing preliminary data. Gross domestic product (GDP) totalled 664 billion denars ($13 billion/11 billion euro) at current prices in 2020, Makstat said in a statement. Exports of goods and services fell by 10.9% in nominal terms in t…
Lidl enters Macedonia - Company registered in Skopje
The German supermarket chain “Lidl” has registered its company in Macedonia, and will be managed by its Bulgarian branch. One of the largest retailers in the world registered the Lidl Northern Macedonia Dooel subsidiary, based in the center of Skopje, on Friday last week (February 19th). The Macedonian portal Faktor named a volume of 500,000 euros as a starting point. Factor refers to the Macedonian central register. It is owned by the German parent company but it will be run by Bulgarians, by businessmen Milena Emilova Dragijska, Biser Bori…
Macedonia: package against economic crisis with legalization of cannabis!
The macedonian government is about to legalize marijuana in Macedonia. In a new interviewprimeminister Zaev reiterated older statements regarding this issue. Soon it should be possible to consume cannabis in Macedonian cafes. The background is of course the current economic situation in Macedonia after the pandemic hitted the country. In an interview with the macedonian service of the german state-media Deutsche Welle, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced a new economic package, which includes decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in …
Foreign investors avoid Macedonia
According to the British newspaper Financial Times (FT), Macedonia in 2016 was on the high 3rd place according to the foreign investment performance index, in 2018 it fell to the 18th place and in 2019 Macedonia is not even among the top 50 countries in the ranking list of FT. If we go back four years, in the pre-election campaign of SDSM, Zaev’s promise was that great companies of the rank of Google and Facebook will invest in Macedonia. Not only did this not happen, but those we had planned to reduce capacity and some to close factories. If…
Macedonia agrees for 5G technology
Macedonia will adopt 5G technology and for that purpose it will sign a memorandum of understanding with NATO, the country's president Stevo Pendarovski said. The foreign ministry will start the preparation of the MoU which will resemble those already signed by the NATO member states in the region and Europe, Pendarovski said during a news conference streamed on the YouTube channel of the president's office after a session of the country's security council on Wednesday. The MoU will state Macedonia's obligations regarding the ow…
Foreign tourist arrivals down to 95 pct in Macedonia
Foreign tourist arrivals to Macedonia plunged by an annual 94.9% in July to 4,991, the country's statistical office said on Monday in Skopje. The number of overnights spent by foreign tourists in Macedonia fell to 15,333 in July, a decrease of 93.4% year-on-year, Makstat said in a statement. Out of the total number of foreign tourists who visited Macedonia in July, 15% came from Turkey, 12.3% from Serbia and 9.8% from Greece. Domestic tourists numbered 70,600 in July, down 4.8%, as they spent 420,847 overnights, down 6.3%.
Yahoo: Britons should move to Macedonia - the cheapest country in Europe
Current analysis by Ocean Finance ranks Macedonia as the “cheapest” country on the continent Yahoo Finance UK reports a recent analysis from Ocean Finance. They analyze “the cheapest country in Europe” to which the British could move to save money. Undisputed at the top of the analysis: Macedonia. In addition to Macedonia, Albania (6th rank) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (9.) are from the Balkan region on the list of cheapest countries. On August 14, Yahoo Finance headlined its English-language edition: "Macedonia is the cheapest country in …
Macedonian Central Bank closes Eurostandard Banka
The Macedonian national bank NBRM closed the bank Eurostandard AD Skopje last Wednesday because, in its opinion, Eurostandard did not meet the minimum operating criteria. The governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska-Bezhoska, said at a press conference that the bank's closure would not jeopardize the stability of the Macedonian banking system and that savings should be refunded within the legal deadlines. The next day, the central bank submitted a proposal to the competent court to open insolvency proceedings for Eurostandard Bank.…
Macedonia Only Country of the Region to Decline in New World Tourism Competitiveness Report
Macedonia’s tourism has become more uncompetitive during the last two years, according to the new Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 released by the World Economic Forum. Compared to the last report in 2017, the country’s ranking declines by 12 positions (from 89th to 101st) out of 140 countries reviewed in the report. The numbers in the new report are disastrous: Macedonia was the only country in the subregion to decline in T&T competitiveness (89th to 101st). The nation’s business environment (40th to 84th), hu…
Macedonia: Central Bank says yes to PayPal
The Macedonian Central Bank NBRM says finally yes for online payment services like PayPal. First announcements were made already in 2017 as we reported - see Link here . While the rest of the world launches rockets into space and brings them back in one piece, talks about wide usage of electric cars or implanting computers into your brain, there is Macedonia, that still has issues with online payments. It seems that at least for now Macedonia in a recent decision by the Central Bank Authority, will allow citizens and companies to …
Eurowings started to connect Germany with Ohrid
German low-cost air carrier Eurowings launched on Monday flights linking Macedonia's beautiful and historic Ohrid to Germany's Stuttgart, later a second new route will start connecting Ohrid with Dusseldorf on July 17th. The Ohrid-Stuttgart flights will be serviced twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays, during the summer months, Eurowings said in a statement. The Ohrid-Dusseldorf flights will be operated just once a week, on Wednesdays, the low-cost air carrier added. Eurowings is part of Lufthansa Group. The company has…
Zaev takes over Ministry of Finance as Prime Minister
The Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev announced the reshuffle of the government including six ministers, the local macedonian media reported on Sunday. Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev unveiled the names of the new ministers for agriculture, environment, culture, local self-government and political system and relations between the communities. These include Trajan Dimkovski (Minister of Agriculture), Naser Nuredini (Minister of Environment), Hysni Ismaili (Minister of Culture), Goran Milevski (local self-government) and…
Mobile phone mostly used to access Internet in Macedonia
In Macedonia 79.3% of the households had access to the Internet at home in the first quarter of 2018. According to the data of the State Statistical Office, the participation of households with Fixed broadband connection in the total number of households is 70.4% in 2018. In the first quarter of 2018, 79.2%% of the total population aged 15-74 used the Internet, and 68.7% used the Internet every day or almost every day. Mobile phone or a smart phone was the most used device for access to the Internet, by 81% of Internet users in th…
World Bank: Macedonia’s public debt is expected to reach 50 percent this year
Macedonia’s economy recovered significantly since 2017 and positive movements are emerging supported by private investments and consumption. Growth this year is projected at 2.5 percent, next year at 2.9 percent and at 3.2 percent in 2020. These projections can be affected by interruption of the reform process by election cycles and failure to realize fiscal consolidation. This is the assessment of the World Bank in its Regular Economic Report for the Western Balkans, presented Thursday in Skopje. Macedonia made the biggest progre…
Macedonia slided down in WEF Global Competitiveness Report
Macedonia is ranked 84th in the 2018 Global Competitiveness Report, released by the World Economic Forum. Comparing to 2016-2017 a slide down from 68th. The GCR includes 140 countries, assessed in 12 pillars: institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, business dynamism, and innovation capability. Macedonia is best ranked in pillar business dynamism (57th) and worst in market size (109th). The United States tops the 2018 Globa…
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