Besimi: IMF support of EUR 162 million illustrates confidence in the Government’s policies
24th August 2021, Skopje – IMF has allocated Special Drawing Rights to the Republic of North Macedonia, amounting to EUR 134.47 million or around EUR 162 million as budget support. Funds have already been projected in the 2021 Budget, geared towards implementing the measures for coping with the pandemic, as well as the measures aimed at supporting the business sector realized through the Development Bank, all to the end of mitigating the effects of the pandemic and supporting the rapid recovery of the domestic economy, as pointed out by Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi in his statement for Sitel TV Channel.
According to Besimi, this was negotiated with the IMF for a long time after the international financial institution announced the new package to support countries worldwide.
The fact that these funds have been allocated as budget support speaks in favour of their confidence in the policies and the fiscal framework geared towards support of the economy, growth recovery, as well as fiscal consolidation”, Minister Besimi pointed out.
The funds have already been provided within the Supplementary Budget wherein, as the Minister said, “more funds have been provided for subsidies as support to the business sector, vulnerable categories, as well as capital expenditures in the health sector, including the vaccination process, also including the measures aimed at supporting the economy”.
In line with the respective procedure, Ministry of Finance will prepare a law, to be submitted to the Government and adopted by the Parliament thereafter. Minister of Finance expects for this Law to be adopted since the funds have already been projected under the Supplementary Budget. This is significant since additional funds are being injected in our economy, which will lead to its boosting, thus also proving support for the COVID-19-related measures.