Macedonia has seen six quarters of 3.5 percent GDP growth, at a time when the EU averages below 1 percent, said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski today, noting that no other country in the region has this growth level.

There are challenges in the industrial sector and particularly in the slow activity on part of some of the mines, but we are doing all we can to keep the existing ones active and opening new ones. Considering the state in the world and in Europe, I believe that the growth of our industrial turnover is solid and unlike any other country in the region. Yes, we’ve had periods when the economy grew by 5.5 or 6 percent, but that was when Europe had higher growth rates. Now we have 3 to 5 times the EU growth. I’m not saying that this is excellent, but given the global situation, I think that we are managing things well, said Mickoski.