The 2027 Budget Before MPs: 124.6 Billion Denars for Debt Repayment, Three Times More Than Capital Investment

Parliament's Committee on Financing and Budget has opened the second-reading debate on the draft budget for 2027: ten days, four for the general debate and six for amendments, of which there are already more than 300. On paper the numbers look tidy. Revenue is planned at 395.4 billion denars, 5.7 percent more than in 2026, and spending at 440.4 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent. The deficit is 45 billion denars, or 3.5 percent of GDP.

The most important number isn't in the headlines

Capital expenditure is planned at 40.8 billion denars. Debt servicing, in the same year, at 124.6 billion. The state will spend more than three times as much paying back old debts as it does on capital investment. Of the repayment obligations, 46.5 billion denars is external debt, including the 500-million-euro Eurobond issued in 2023, which matures next year.

What will all of that be paid with? New borrowing: 36.3 billion denars at home, an extra 60 billion for maturing one-year government securities, and 86.8 billion denars borrowed abroad. In total, 183.1 billion denars of borrowing in a single year - to cover the deficit and pay back old loans.

What citizens get

Tax revenue is projected at 223.1 billion denars, up 6.4 percent. Social transfers rise to 220.8 billion, of which 123.8 billion goes to pensions, 4.8 percent more, in line with the statutory indexation. Social protection for the most vulnerable gets 14.3 billion denars, active employment measures 2.9 billion, and healthcare 3.9 billion more than this year. Defence gets 2 percent of GDP, in line with NATO commitments, and municipalities around 36 billion denars through block grants and VAT grants. Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska Kochoska said funds have also been secured for public-sector pay rises.

One detail deserves attention. The money for the Public Enterprise for State Roads is no longer in the Budget; the enterprise now raises it on its own. Through it, work continues on Corridors 8 and 10d and the Kičevo–Bukojčani, Kičevo–Ohrid and Skopje–Blace motorways. So part of the biggest investments lives outside the budget table - and with it, outside the debate that has just begun.

The minister herself says that with capital investment, what matters is not only how much is planned but how much is actually delivered. On that, we agree. Which is why the question for MPs is simple: how much of the 40.8 billion will really be spent by December 2027 - and how much of the debt will future governments have to pay back?