Filipche: The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance should explain why the €350 million debt of the Public Enterprise for State Roads is hidden

The president of SDSM and Member of Parliament in the Assembly, Venko Filipche, today asked Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and Minister of Finance Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska to explain why, according to him, the debt commitment of the Public Enterprise for State Roads is not shown in the official public debt data — a debt that Filipche estimates at €350 million.

At a press conference in the Assembly he reiterated that the government had hidden this debt and also raised questions why the new borrowing in the amount of €1.3 billion had not been included in the budget rebalance.

Allegations of hidden liabilities and growth of public debt

Filipche showed a document that, according to him, justifies the request for new borrowing of €1.3 billion and warned that this will increase the total state debt to, as he said, "a so far record, never-before-reached nearly €12 billion. Of that, more than four billion euros are new debt created only in the last two to two and a half years, so the debt will grow to a record 65 percent of gross domestic product."

He accused that behind the borrowing there is no economic strategy nor measures that would bring an improvement in living standards, but that the money is being spent on party tenders instead of on capital investments that would strengthen the economy.

Filipche announced that SDSM will again submit a bill to increase the minimum wage to 36,000 denars, i.e. €600, and that the proposal will include a measure to subsidize contributions for private companies to cover the difference from the increased wage. He said the proposal will be submitted at the beginning of next week.

Asked where the funds will come from, Filipche said that this can be found by reducing, as he assessed, unproductive and luxury items in the budget and pointed out that the government, according to him, published plans to buy a new government plane as an example of wrong priorities.

Regarding whether the majority led by VMRO-DPMNE will support the bill, Filipche emphasized: "Considering how brutally and hostilely they govern, only for their own interest, I do not expect them to support the law, but I hope they will have at least a small grain of conscience to think about the workers and how they are living these days."

Photo: SDSM