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Macedonian parties clash on public debt level

Xinhua, February 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

The level of public debt has become a bone of contention between Macedonia's ruling party VMRO-DPMNE and the main opposition party SDSM, local media reported Wednesday.

SDSM, led by Zoran Zaev, accused the ruling party of sending the level of public debt over 50 percent by the end of 2016.

VMRO-DPMNE responded by saying that debt in Macedonia has been following a downward trend.

In January 2016, the Macedonian government took out two loans amounting to 31.7 million euros (34.1 million U.S. dollars) and 6.5 million euros, while the total amount of old debts for January this year was 38.54 million euros.

According to official figures, Macedonia's public debt amounts to 4.67 billion euros or 50.6 percent of GDP.

Finance Minister Kiril Minsoki said part of the new loan will be used to settle old debts. However, such moves have been received with skepticism by both the opposition here as well as economy experts who have raised the alarm on the high level of debt.

Macedonia is still without a government as the VMRO-DPMNE led by Nikola Gruevski, has failed to enter a coalition with the party of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI)headed by Ali Ahmeti. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollars) Endit