Macedonian C-Bank Revises Forecast for 2009 GDP Contraction to 1.6% from 1.8%

An annual GDP contraction of 2.5% is expected for the third quarter, while the economy is expected to show signs of stabilisation by the end of the year, NBRM said in the statement on Thursday.

Macedonia's economy contracted by an annual 1.4% in the second quarter of 2009, compared to a 6.7% growth a year earlier. The gross domestic product (GDP) totalled 100.503 billion denars ($2.4 billion/1.6 billion euro) in the second quarter, the Statistics Office said earlier.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last month it expected Macedonia's economy to contract by 1.0%-1.5% this year.

The central bank has also revised its forecast for the country's 2009 current account deficit to 9.1% of GDP from a previous projection of 11.6%, due to the "more favorable dynamics in private transfers than expected", the bank said.

IMF in October projected Macedonia's 2009 current account deficit at 9.5% of GDP.

Macedonia’s preliminary current account deficit halved to 106.08 million euro ($157.2 million) in the second quarter of 2009 from a revised gap of 210.14 million euro a year earlier, central bank data indicated.

(1 euro=61.5997 Macedonian denars)