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Macedonia's public debt raises concern at new high of 50.6 pct of GDP

Xinhua, November 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The public debt of Macedonia amounted to around 5.2 billion U.S. dollars in the end of the third quarter 2016, hitting 50.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), data published by the ministry of finance here confirmed Wednesday.

The public debt here has seen a 4 percent year-on-year growth given that at the end of 2015 it stood at the level of 46.7 percent of GDP, according to the data. Macedonia's public debt has continued to rise since 2008 when it was a mere 23 percent of GDP.

Statistics published by the Macedonian finance ministry showed that from January to September public debt here increased by around 586 million dollars mainly due to the new loans that the current government borrowed through euro bonds.

The issue has spurred debate among the majority and opposition political parties now that the country's public debt has already exceeded the threshold of 50 percent of GDP.

According to Macedonia's vice minister of finance Kire Naumov, who hails from the opposition, the current public debt here is a catastrophe because public debt has increased by 2.2 million dollars per day this year.

He harshly criticized the government and namely the finance minister Kiril Minoski saying that they are burdening the budget of Macedonia's citizens.

However, such claims were rebuffed by the Macedonian ministry of finance, which reacted Wednesday through a press release saying that Macedonia has been ranked by Eurostat as the country with the smallest public debt level in region and Europe while it considered such statements as speculation. Endi