Municipal procurements hit record €356M in 2025 — Tetovo tops with €22.5M

A fresh analysis of municipal procurement in 2025 finds that Skopje and the country’s 80 municipalities signed 4,300 public‑procurement contracts worth a record 21.9 billion denars (about €356 million). The research highlights a near‑doubling of municipal tender values in the election year of 2025 compared with 2024.

Large concentration of spending — Tetovo leads

At city/municipal level, Tetovo recorded the highest procurement volume in 2025, with contracts totaling €22.5 million. Karpoš followed, registering an annual increase worth €9 million, while Kumanovo and Gostivar reported procurement values of approximately €7.4 million and €7.3 million respectively. The smallest municipal procurement total was in Staro Nagoričane at just under €0.5 million.

The biggest year‑on‑year jump belongs to Tetovo — an increase of about €20 million — while Strumica saw the largest decline, down roughly €6 million. The City of Skopje again fell from the top positions: after dropping to sixth place last year, it ranked 14th in 2025 with procurement volume of only €8.5 million.

Procurement per resident also reached record levels in 2025: an average of €313 per inhabitant, up €182 from €131 in 2024. Čair had the highest spending per resident at €2,381, while Centar Zupa had the lowest at €12 per inhabitant. Other municipalities with the highest per‑capita procurement were Saraj (€1,703), Shtip (€1,544), Struga (€1,355) and Tetovo (€1,273).

In 2025 municipalities signed contracts with 1,185 different companies, yet more than one quarter of the total municipal procurement value went to just ten firms. At the top of the list is Zhikol from Strumica with contract value of 1 billion denars (around €16 million). Lendi Grup (Skopje) concluded 49 contracts worth about 864 million denars (€14 million), primarily for street construction and reconstruction. Third is Stenton Gradba (Bitola) with 27 contracts totaling about 722 million denars (€11.7 million); that firm signed deals with 10 municipalities.

Municipal procurement in the wider Skopje area accounted for 29% of all local procurement in 2025. The City of Skopje together with its ten municipalities spent nearly €105 million — €47 million more than in 2024 — but that share remains well below the 45% recorded in 2021.

When procurement is measured against consolidated municipal budgets, 2025 showed the highest ratio so far: on average 48% of municipal budgets were committed to public procurement. Thirty‑six municipalities devoted more than half of their realized budgets to procurement. The report links much of this rise to funds allocated by the central government for infrastructure projects through the so‑called Hungarian loan. It also cautions that many 2025 procurement contracts are multi‑year, so payments will continue into subsequent budgets, which inflates the procurement share in current budgets.

Concentration of contracts is pronounced: in 21 municipalities a single firm accounted for more than 50% of that municipality’s procurements. Saraj recorded the highest concentration — one supplier with an 84% share — followed by Tearce with 77%, then Rosoman, Centar Zupa and Radoviš at 67%. Macedonska Kamenica, Zelenikovo, Plasnica and Struga each had around a 60% share for a single firm. In half of municipalities roughly one third of all implemented procurements in 2025 were carried out by a single company. The study urges local authorities to stimulate competition and, where possible, split large tenders into smaller lots to reduce concentration.

Photo: press material from the event