Three weeks before the final adoption of the new minimum wage, companies do not know how much it will be, and their budgets were tailored and adopted last September-October, warned Viktor Mizo, president of the Council of Foreign Investors. Incidentally, 49 of the companies with foreign capital are using state aid or have applied for it, and 39 percent of them complained that they faced delays in receiving these funds, the latest Survey on the Business Climate and Investment Opportunities in Macedonia showed.

-Our plans are ready, the budgets have been adopted, and it is not yet known whether the new minimum will be 24.400 denars or whether the members of the Economic and Social Council will agree to make it higher. So far, we have not discussed with the state whether and what measures it could offer as assistance to companies, but legally it is not possible for it to be selective, that is, to be directed only at certain production sectors. But it would be good if the Government agreed to participate in the contributions, if there is a higher minimum - explained Mizo.

Otherwise, 93 percent of companies with foreign capital increased salaries by an average of 11 percent last year, and 58 of them stated that they did so due to increased inflation.