It is estimated that state institutions on a local and central level, owe companies one billion euros. This was stated by SDSM leader, Zoran Zaev at a meeting with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of Macedonia (SKSZM).
He added that there are many hidden debts that the public does not know about, and promised that if SDSM comes to power, in the first 100 days the new government will announce the amount.
“One of the things we will do, is, we will promptly fulfill obligations to the companies and clear there debts wih have been accumulating for months. The application for a tax back refund is considered a sin in this country, instead of money you’ll get an inspection”, Zaev said.
When asked by reporters regarding state subsidies that foreign companies receive from the free economic zones, Zaev noted that they receive 3,000 to 8,000 euros in subsidies per employee, which puts domestic companies in a subordinate position.
“The subsidies for foreign companies put domestic companies at a disadvantaged. At the same time, allowing them to drain resources from domestic companies, attracts trained staff. In our economic program we want to allocate 140 million euros for subsidies to domestic companies that will appoint for the next four years”, said Zaev.
Today, Representatives of the Economic Chamber of North-West Macedonia discussed with the SDSM leader of Zaev, Oliver Spasovski, Dragan Tevdovski and Petre Shilegov the economic program of SDSM, but also for the platform the chamber presented to
the politicians before the upcoming elections to improve the country’s economy.
The President of SKSZM, Nebi Hoxha pointed out that 80% of the requests are in the economic program of the party.
“We asked for reforms to the public institutions, greater transparency in Government, accountability, an increase in gross domestic product. We want the minimum wage to increase to 16,000 denars and an average salary of 500 euros is not unrealistic if it is in done in a certain period”, added Hoxha.
In this regard, Zaev said businessmen will be able to increase the average wage and the minimum wage, but only if the state creates the conditions for it.