The draft law on borrowing of the Republic of North Macedonia from the Hungarian Export-Import Bank for the amount of 500 million euros passed the vote in the Parliament. After its publication in the Official Gazette, there is an agreement to be signed by our government and the Hungarian bank, and soon the money is expected to be deposited into our account.

According to the Law, the loan from the Hungarian Export-Import Bank will be withdrawn in one tranche, and the term for its repayment is 15 years, including a three-year grace period. The interest rate is fixed and amounts to 3,25 percent. The loan will be repaid in 24 semi-annual installments, on February 15 and August 15 of each year. In addition, the Republic of North Macedonia will pay a commission for rendered legal services to an independent firm selected by the Hungarian Export-Import Bank Private Limited Liability Company. The amount is not written in the Law, but according to the claims of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, it is about 70.000 euros.

Deputy Minister of Finance Nikolce Jankulovski, who explained the Law, said that its aim is to help the country have a sustainable financial situation, while encouraging economic adjustments and structural reforms.

The opposition did not attend the parliamentary committees, but there was a sharp discussion at the parliamentary session before the vote.

MP from SDSM Fatmir Bitiqi sharply reacted that this is a loan for financing domestic and not foreign companies. He said that the private banks finance the projects from the home countries and that we cannot see anywhere that this loan will finance our economy, as claimed by the Government.

– The Hungarian bank has a history of financing projects that deviate from the Western European value corpus. The question arises whether this will happen in our country and whether we will be forced to make political concessions for this loan, whether we will be influenced by foreign policy agendas that are not in accordance with the democratic values ​​of our society - said Bitici.

According to him, this borrowing carries a huge risk for the economic stability of the state, future generations will pay the loans, and citizens will face increased taxes and inflation and reduced purchasing power. He also publicly asked why the Minister of Finance did not explain this law.

- Does the absence of the finance minister mean disagreement or, even worse, unwillingness to take responsibility for this decision and its consequences - asked Bitici.

Accusing that the process was conducted in secret, he also asked "whether the Government is afraid of the reaction of the citizens if the truth comes to light and why this loan was not announced before the elections, but immediately after coming to power, which means that it was previously negotiated." .

Responding, Brane Petrushevski from VMRO-DPMNE said that while Bitici was deputy prime minister for economic affairs, his government doubled the public debt from 4,7 billion euros to 8,9 billion euros.

- Talking about secrecy for a borrowing that was announced during the pre-election period, for a borrowing that has been debated for months, is ridiculous. It is so because they are aware that this borrowing is far cheaper than all their previous borrowings, because his government only from January to June 2024, made total interest costs in the Budget of 182 million euros - Petrushevski said.

His fellow party member Bojan Stojanoski considered that for the first time there is the most transparent way how the funds from the loan will be spent, who pointed out that "they will enter the Budget only as a stopover until they are sent to where they need to be".

- This loan will mainly be used for two purposes, for financing infrastructure projects of the municipalities in the amount of 250 million euros and for financing cheap loans to the economy of 250 million euros - said Stojanoski.