IMF Staff Country Reports

The 2025 Article IV Consultation discusses that economic growth in North Macedonia is gaining momentum in an environment of increased uncertainty. A credible fiscal strategy is essential to rebuilding buffers, reducing debt and ensuring compliance with fiscal rules. This is key to maintaining market confidence, ensuring access to international capital, creating room for investment, and enhancing resilience against future shocks. Macro prudential settings may need to be tightened to slow credit growth. Preserving central bank autonomy is crucial for maintaining price stability, exchange rate stability, and financial stability. Structural reforms are needed to boost productivity, offset the drag from emigration, and advance in the EU accession process. Reducing informality through streamlined business registrations and expanded digital public services is a priority to improving the business environment and supporting productivity growth. Governance reforms to improve predictability of legal and regulatory environment, functioning of the rule of law, and anti-corruption efforts are crucial. Improving judicial independence and impartiality would strengthen contract enforcement and help reduce informality.