World Bank report, Global Economics Prospects, North Macedonia 3.6% Real GDP growth rate in 2021, and 3.5% in 2022

The Global Economic Prospects (GEP) is the World Bank’s semi-annual flagship publication on the state of the world economy. The global economy is expected to expand 4% in 2021, assuming an initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout becomes widespread throughout the year, the World Bank says in its January 2021 Global Economic Prospects.

Growth in the Western Balkans is expected to rebound to 3.5 percent in 2021, assuming that consumer and business confidence are restored as COVID-19 is brought under control and that political instability eases.

Analytical sections of the latest Global Economic Prospects report examine how the pandemic has amplified risks around debt accumulation; how it could hold back growth over the long term absent concerted reform efforts; and what risks are associated with the use of asset purchase programs as a monetary policy tool in emerging market and developing economies.

While the global economy appears to have entered a subdued recovery, policymakers face formidable challenges—in public health, debt management, budget policies, central banking and structural reforms—as they try to ensure that this still fragile global recovery gains traction and sets a foundation for robust growth,” said World Bank Group President David Malpass. “To overcome the impacts of the pandemic and counter the investment headwind, there needs to be a major push to improve business environments, increase labor and product market flexibility, and strengthen transparency and governance.”

For more information, please visit link: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects

Intensified activities of the Agency in the sector “investor care” – a visit to Kostal, Ohrid

Despite the global health and economic crisis, investor has announced new investments and new jobs

The Director of the Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion, Dejan Pavleski visited the company Kostal, a German investment in Ohrid, where he met with the director of the company Viktor Mizo.

The visit is a follow-up if the meeting, ten days ago, of the government economic team with the Foreign Investors Couucil, and is in the context of the increased activities of the Agency in the sector of investor care.

Current operations and challenges in this period of crisis crisis that companies are facing was discussed at the meeting, and the initiative of the Agency to create a systemic solution to address issues affecting the work of investors was presented.

Pavleski stressed that the care for the already present investors is one of the priorities of the Agency because the investors, when they have a positive experience from working here, decide to expand their investments to stay here. It also means new jobs and additional stimulation of the local economy. Kostal is one such example with the recent expansion of the investment with a new production hall.

The director of Kostal, Victor Mizo, expressed satisfaction with the visit and put more emphasis on “investor care”, and especially welcomed the initiative of the Agency to create a systemic solution in this sector, noting that this will greatly facilitate the work of investors. As for Kostal’s work, he said that the company continues to implement the plans despite the global health and economic crisis, announcing the creation of 250 new jobs next year, after employing 330 new people in 2020. Additionally, new, more sophisticated lines for Kostal’s state-of-the-art products are planned to be launched globally.

“We work for BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Tesla and Rolls Royce, and from next year we will work on projects for Jaguar and Land Rover, which means that over 80% of our customers are premium car manufacturers. The plan for 2021 is revenue growth of about 70% and annual exports of over 100 million euros “- said Mizo

More information about the company at the following link: https://www.kostal.com

The Agency initiates the involvement of municipalities and local businesses in the process of attracting new investments

The Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion of RSM held a working meeting with representatives of municipalities and companies from the Pelagonija planning region, where it presented the initiative for their active engagement in order to provide new opportunities for interested investors and speed up the procedures for implementation of new investments.
Director Pavleski asked the representatives of the local self-government to review their plans and to identify locations that can be offered to interested investors for Greenfield investments.
Additionally, he called on the businessmen who have unused facilities to offer them to the Agency, which will offer them to interested investors who are looking for locations and opportunities for brownfield investments.

Visit to domestic companies from the food industry as part of the activities of the director

Within the activities of the Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion, the director Dejan Pavleski visited two companies from the food industry, Vitaminka and Krivogashtani Promet, which have a strengthened brand position in our market and are actively working on placing their products on foreign markets.

During the visit, the director Pavleski met with Mr. Sime Stancheski, one of the owners of “Krivogashtani Promet”, a company that develops its brand Gurmano and conquers foreign markets with a plan to grow and expand its product range. The company sells its products, which use raw materials mainly obtained from the Pelagonija Region, is present in 23 countries worldwide.

The visit continued in the company Vitaminka, where the director Pavleski met with Mr. Sasho Naumoski, director of Vitaminka, one of the most successful and largest Macedonian companies, which is also among the 100 largest exporters. The range of over 400 Vitaminka products is exported to over 30 countries, and their largest export market is the countries of Southeast Europe. This year, they realized the first direct export to Japan.

The Agency considers these visits crucial in identifying areas for cooperation and ways in which the Agency can help them not only to conquer new markets but also in terms of knowledge sharing, brand development, networking with companies and joint presentation at international fairs. .

Branding for a new added value in the textile industry

The Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion held a working meeting on “Branding of textile companies in the Republic of North Macedonia”.

The meetings covered the course of investment activities and plans for growth and development of companies, as well as the promotion of cooperation aimed at connecting existing investors with domestic companies.

The meeting was attended by textile companies, members of the textile cluster who have already undertaken activities for the development of their brand who gave their proposals and challenges to the sector, as well as how the Agency could be involved in achieving such goals., with the common goal of increasing exports.

The purpose of the meeting was to exchange views on how to add new value to the textile industry and how to conquer new markets.

One of the main conclusions of the working meeting was that the increase of value can be done only by establishing our own brands, overcoming logistical challenges, procurement of modern equipment and organized appearance on foreign markets.

In the future, the agency will initiate meetings of this kind and will support ideas that will mean new added value to companies.

Dejan Pavleski visited two companies – beneficiaries of financial support

The Director of the Agency for Foreign Investments and Export Promotion Dejan Pavleski, on 18^th of December visited two companies – Texport and Cafe di Artisan, successful foreign direct investments and beneficiaries of financial support from the Government with a total investments of €4М in the last two years.

Тhe course of investment activities and plans for growth of the companies was discussed, as well as the promotion of cooperation aimed at connecting existing investors with domestic supliers.

“Cooperation with investors after starting their business is very important to us because we understand the ever-changing business needs as an operation grows, and to that effect, we pledge to collaborate closely with the companies to facilitate that growth. These visits aim to determine the success, but also the problems and business requirements of the companies, and our Aftercare Department will continue to cater to their needs and resolve any issues that may ensue,” said Director Pavleski.