North Macedonia’s GDP to fall by 4.9%

The North Macedonia Central Bank has announced that they expect the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to fall by 4.9% in 2020. The Central Bank had earlier in fall projected that the GDP in 2020 would fall by 3.5%. However, given the latest analysis on COVID-19 cases, and the continuous increasing number of infections, the situation has deteriorated and has further impacted all aspects of the economy.  

Nevertheless, the Central Bank, expects that the economy will rebound on 2021 with a growth rate of 3.9% and 3.6% in 2022.  

According to Central Bank, the recovery of economic activity will mainly be attributed to “domestic demand, together with the stabilisation of the labour market, continuity of credit flows, increasing confidence, as well as further fiscal support for consumption, especially investments”. In terms of inflation, the Bank has updated its forecast for 2020 from around zero which was estimated in April to 1.1%. As for 2021 and 2022, the Bank’s projection remains at 1.5% and 2% respectively.  

Image by Cymelium from Pixabay.