September 25 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's finance minister Fatmir Besimi said that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall by 3.4% in 2020 and bounce back to a 4.8% growth in 2021.
The country's public debt at the end of this year is expected to be equivalent to 59.7% of the projected GDP, Besimi said in a interview for local Alsat-M TV, published on the television's YouTube channel on Thursday.
North Macedonia's public debt totalled 6.5 billion euro ($7.6 billion) at the end of June, equivalent to 59.5% of the projected GDP, according to earlier finance ministry data.
The country's economy shrank by an estimated 12.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020, after expanding by 0.2% in the previous quarter.
The finance minister added in the interview that the new, fourth package of anti-crisis measures, which should be finalised and presented soon, will focus on financial stability and economic recovery, apart from providing further support to businesses and citizens affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The previous government packages aimed at reducing the impact of the coronavirus outbreak with incentives such as social assistance schemes and vouchers for the unemployed, low-paid workers and students and wage subsidies for firms affected by the crisis.
($ = 0.8576 euro)